The Aces of Lylat
by abstow89
Summary: Star Fox faces their toughest challenge yet once they learn that Andrew has taken over Andross' work and plans on destroying the Lylat System. Now the squadron must team up with other mercenary pilots from across the universe in order to put a stop to him, all while trying to defeat a dangerous enemy squadron known as the Fireflies.
1. The Orange Wings

**A/N: After thinking about this fanfic, plotting, taking a hiatus, and then finishing the outline for the story, I've finally got around to actually starting on it. No sequels are planned; this is only going to be one story, from start to finish. I won't give away too much of the plot, short of the summary already provided, but for now, expect this story to be like an **_**Ace Combat**_** game if it were taking place in the **_**Star Fox**_** universe.**

**Story's rated T for violence throughout, some swearing, some gore, and character deaths.**

Safe inside his Arwing. Cruising through the clear skies. His three teammates were at his side, alive, well, and happy. That was all Fox could really ask for: the safety of his team. At least, that's what he thought at first. But as he and his team flew through the surprisingly vacant skies of Macbeth, Fox noticed there was one crucial component missing from his team: excitement. The vulpine was aware that most of Andross and Andrew's forces had been cleared off this side of the planet, but Star Fox hadn't even encountered a squadron of patrolling starfighters. As the fox continued to fly with his three partners, an old gray hare who should've retired years ago showed up on the communications channel.

"Any new developments?" asked Peppy.

Fox shook his head. "Negative. We've been circling around these mountains for a while now and haven't found anything."

"Hmm, perhaps you've been looking in the wrong place."

"I'm tellin' you, there's nothing out here, Gramps. We're wasting our time," said Falco.

"I doubt that. Ever since we've arrived at the mountains I've been sensing several brain patterns," said Krystal.

"That could be anything, Krystal. For all we know you're just sensing a bunch of hikers or miners," said Falco.

"Which makes sense, since the base is supposed to be located at a mining facility. There's a good chance Andrew has his own soldiers digging for minerals deep in the mountains. Not much we can do now except keep a close eye out for anything suspicious," Fox said.

"If you say so."

Fox and his other teammates shut off their communications channel for now as they continued to fly around the mountains. The sun wasn't out, but the team's visibility was perfect. They could see all the mountains and some of the caves located on the ground. Previous sites where Andross' former troops dug into the mountains looking for minerals still lingered. But all the equipment left behind was old and rusted, incapable of being salvaged even as scrap metal. The Star Fox team saw a giant crane with a massive claw dangling from a wire. Both the crane and the claw looked like they were about to topple over; Slippy quickly veered out of the way and flew underneath Fox's ship. They passed the crane as the claw kept rocking back and forth and creaking.

"Bit jumpy today, Slips?" asked Falco.

"Not jumpy, cautious. Not gonna get picked on by the bad guys _this_ time! For all I know, they have some kind of laser built into that crane, or that claw's some giant sentient bat…thing."

Fox chuckled. "Feel free to be as cautious as you want. So long as you don't crash into that mountain."

Slippy shouted when he noticed he was floating too far to the left and nearly scraped his wing against a mountain wall. Star Fox flew along the mountains for a few more minutes before the mountains spread apart, and the team found themselves flying through a vast canyon with dozens of caves all along the ground. The Star Fox team descended and slowed down, and discovered various roads and giant holes that had been dug into the ground—holes big enough to house a few tanks, or even a couple of starfighters. There wasn't much vegetation in the area; most of the land had been torn apart during the Lylat Wars by Andross' forces. While the canyon still looked inhabitable, if not somewhat gorgeous due to its sheer size, Star Fox could tell that someone had recently tried to turn these canyons into a battleground. Krystal glanced at the left side of the canyon and frowned once she spotted what looked like giant weapons built into the canyon walls.

"Fox, you see that?"

The vulpine nodded, and Peppy answered their question before anyone else responded. "Looks like gun turrets. Stay alert everyone!"

"They could be abandoned. They haven't even fired at us yet," said Falco.

"Or maybe Andrew's thugs are waiting to spring a trap. Why else would they just leave—"

Slippy stopped talking when he looked to the right and saw more gun turrets, all of which were aimed directly at the team and slowly spinning.

"Err, Fox?"

Peppy growled. "Don't take any chances. Get rid of those turrets!"

Star Fox quickly sped up and broke off into different directions: Falco and Slippy went right, while Krystal and Fox went left. The turrets on the left side of the canyon were still inactive, but they weren't taking any risks. The two vulpines fired their lasers at the oversized turrets that could obliterate a Landmaster in only a few seconds. The lasers tore through the menacing-looking weapons, causing them to explode in various areas and crumble, with various rocks and debris raining down onto the ground. By the time Fox destroyed the first turret, the rotating cannons that fired the bullets were on fire and falling to the ground. Unfortunately, once the first turret was destroyed, an alarm went off, and the mining base was on full alert.

"Dang it—they know we're here now!"

"Great! Makes this mission more interesting!" said Falco.

Before Slippy even had the chance to say something, one of the turrets began to fire, spraying hot bullets out of its cannons at the frog's Arwing. Slippy shouted and began to perform evasive maneuvers, flying in zigzag patterns and doing a couple of somersaults as the bullets kept following him.

"Little help here, guys?!"

"I'm on it! ROB, get these turrets on radar!" shouted Fox.

"Affirmative," replied the robot.

Fox rushed over to the turret shooting at Slippy and began to fire at it, while Falco and Krystal started to shoot down more turrets on the right canyon walls that were beginning to fire. Both pilots were more prepared than Slippy and anticipated the turrets' firing patterns, so they knew how to avoid them. It only took ROB a few seconds before he located all the turrets and placed them on the team's radar. From what the team could tell, there were still nine more active turrets. Falco continuously blasted at one turret that was located at the lower section of the canyon beside one of the caves. The bird barrel rolled several times, deflecting some of the turret's bullets off his Arwing before they punctured the ship. Realizing he didn't have the patience to destroy the turret with mere laser fire, Falco deployed one of his bombs, and the resulting explosion destroyed the turret and caused a section of the rocky canyon wall to fall apart and collapse onto the ground.

"Destruction of turret confirmed," said ROB.

"See? This isn't so bad," said the bird.

"Speak for yourself!" shouted Slippy, as he continued to dodge more turret fire.

"Well, not so bad for _us_."

The third turret went down quickly; Fox took care of it with ease, since it was too busy trying to shoot Slippy down and not him. As the alarms continued to blare throughout the canyon, Krystal and Falco were surprised to see starfighters emerge right from the ground. The small, one-seated, brown and green starfighters zoomed from the canyon walls as well. All the ships looked clunky and rusted, and were mostly flat with two diagonal wings on the left and right sides, giving the ships a V-like silhouette. Star Fox could see the tiny cockpits their foes were located in and the laser cannons on the underside of the ships.

"Bogeys inbound!" shouted Peppy.

"I see 'em. Falco, you and Krystal take care of the turrets! Slippy and I will handle the fighters!"

"Gotcha!" said Falco.

"We're on it, Fox!" said Krystal.

The team spread out and picked their targets, with Krystal and Falco paying more attention to the turrets. Now that Slippy was no longer being fired upon, he assisted Fox in taking out the enemy. The frog chased after two ships tailing Falco as he started to fire at a turret. Slippy fired at both ships only a few times before their engines failed and both ships exploded. Fox could see someone firing their laser at him and missing terribly. He used his brakes and let the ship get closer to him before performing a loop so he could get behind the fighter. The fox shot at the fighter with his green laser and watched as the ship caught on fire and slowly spun around as it nosedived into the ground. Fox heard another tremendous explosion in the distance and knew Falco must've deployed a second bomb. ROB confirmed his theory only a few seconds later.

"Destruction of turret confirmed."

"Well done guys! Keep this up and those turrets will be down in no time!" said Peppy.

"Just use your bombs. They can destroy these turrets almost instantly," advised Falco.

Krystal took the bird's advice into consideration, and promptly launched one of her bombs at a turret on the left side of the canyon. Both the bomb and the turret disappeared inside a colossal orange fireball. The resulting explosion rattled the entire wall and caused several giant rocks to slowly break off the canyon and fall to the ground, carrying what was left of the ruined turret along with it. Krystal shouted when someone fired at her ship three times and began to puncture her ship's armor.

"Fox, I've got enemies on my tail!"

Fox could see the starfighter that was relentlessly chasing after Krystal, shooting at her Arwing whenever the pilot had the chance. He quickly used his boost to catch up to the starfighter just as the pilot was charging his laser. Before he could fire, Fox blasted the starfighter with his own laser weapon, and the V-shaped ship burst into flames. Krystal sighed with relief and resumed her task.

"Thanks, Fox. Took a few hits, but I'm okay!"

"We'll get your Arwing fixed when we get back to the Great Fox," said Fox.

Falco spotted another turret dead in his tracks on the left side of the canyon. He quickly ascended as the bullets began to fly his way, almost taking off his left wing in the process. The bird used his boost and barrel rolled as he tried to get away from the turret's bullets, deflecting any that made contact with his ship. The bird growled, realizing that no matter which way he turned, or how many times he barrel rolled, the turret wouldn't leave him alone.

"Little help here, Krystal?"

Krystal was running out of bombs, so she flew straight for the turret and fired her laser at it, watching as the huge weapon began to take damage, the giant, black pieces of armor shedding from the weapon like a snake disposing of its old skin. The turret whirred and the cannons rotated as they locked on to Krystal instead. Krystal quickly descended, heading so low to the ground that her Arwing was almost scraping along the ground. Falco flew back down once the turret was no longer fixated on him and promptly shot several laser bursts at the weapon until it exploded, and the cannons were blown off what was left of the canyon and turret.

"Destruction of turret confirmed," said ROB.

Falco was already flying towards another turret the moment ROB's face went off the communication channel. He didn't hesitate to take it out with a well-placed bomb, which blew the entire turret from the canyon wall. The blue bird watched as the enormous weapon flipped around in the air whilst on fire, and then landed on top of a V-starfighter, crushing it and sending it to the ground as well. Falco couldn't help but snicker at the sight.

"It's like these creeps aren't even trying!"

"…I don't think they are," said Slippy. "Don't you guys find it odd that there's nothing out here except turrets and starfighters?"

Fox shot down another V-fighter before he looked around the canyon. For what seemed to be a secret base, which he assumed would have astounding defenses, the turrets and starfighter pilots were just aiming at them haphazardly now. Even the turrets weren't much of a threat now that over half of them had been destroyed.

"Perhaps this was just a decoy. Maybe the real base is somewhere else on the planet," said Peppy.

"Decoy or not, there's a bunch of enemy scum down here and several turrets that can tear wandering pilots to shreds. May as well mop up the rest of 'em while we're here," said Falco.

Falco suddenly saw a bright blue light coming from behind and raised his eyebrow questionably. His sixth sense kicked in, and the bird quickly veered his plane to the right as an enemy fighter fired his devastating laser at the bird's Arwing. The bird started to pant as he saw and heard the laser zip past his ship, which was clearly capable of punching a hole right through the Arwing.

"Dang, I got one on my tail!"

"I'll take care of it, sweetie."

"Wh…wait a second!"

Before Falco could say anything else, the starfighter behind him burst into flames after being hit with laser fire. After the ship was destroyed, Falco saw a familiar starfighter fly past his Arwing. The bird recognized the ship's color and design anywhere: it was Katt Monroe's ship, the Cat's Paw.

"Now don't tell me you boys threw a party without informing me about it!"

"Go away, Katt! We don't need your help!"

"And why wouldn't we need it?" asked Krystal.

Slippy snickered. "Cause Falco doesn't like it when his girlfriend teases him!"

"Shut your mouth, Slippy! She's not my girlfriend!"

"That's enough guys. We can talk about all of that later; there's still more turrets and starfighters to take out!" said Fox.

Star Fox and Katt realized the situation they were in and started to take it more seriously. Three turrets were still active, and the starfighters weren't letting up. The team didn't change their objectives; Slippy and Fox focused more on destroying the starfighters, and Krystal and Falco (with Katt included) kept working on the turrets. Slippy spotted a V-fighter floating around aimlessly, like the pilot wanted to get shot down. But the frog didn't underestimate the pilots, so he flew towards the ship and fired at it regardless, watching as its rear engine burst into flames and the ship quickly descended into the ground. Fox was being followed by two V-fighters as he chased after another one, hoping he could shoot it down before he took any serious damage. Fox could see the V-fighters firing their lasers at him from behind and groaned as one of them hit his ship. Not taking any chances, Fox did a somersault so the V-fighters would fly ahead and Fox was behind them instead. Fox charged up his Arwing's laser weapon and fired off a massive green beam that shot through the air and slammed into the back of a ship. The resulting explosion obliterated a V-fighter instantly, and the one flying beside it got caught in the explosion and crashed.

Falco could see a turret shooting its bullets at Krystal, who was struggling to evade the weapon's defenses as she barrel rolled over and over again and used her boost to try and get away from all the gunfire. Falco boosted towards the turret as fast as he could and started to fire his trademark green laser at it. Only a few seconds after he fired, a different set of laser fire began to hit the turret until the entire contraption exploded into tiny pieces.

"Destruction of turret confirmed!" said Katt.

"That was _my_ target, Katt!"

The feline giggled. "I didn't see your name written on it."

"All that matters right now is that there are only two more turrets left to go. The sooner they're destroyed, the sooner we can figure out what Andrew's forces were doing here in the first place," said Peppy.

"These fighters aren't giving us much trouble anymore. Once those turrets are gone, they'll probably retreat," said Slippy.

"Understood. We'll focus all our fire on the turrets then. Falco, how many more bombs you got?" asked Katt.

"One."

"All right, one turret for each of us!"

Falco didn't bother arguing. He just huffed loudly and started to fly to the right side of the canyon.

"I'll get the one on the right. You can take the other one."

Krystal stopped seeking out the turrets and returned to Fox and Slippy. But at this point in the battle, neither pilot needed anymore assistance. Some of the V-fighters were retreating, while others were too busy getting shot down by Slippy or Fox. The sound of laser fire began to die down as seconds passed, and all Krystal could see were various clouds of smoke coming from the ground. Parts of the canyon walls had more "caves" in them caused by the devastating explosions that resulted from the wrecked turrets. Krystal flew past a V-fighter trying to escape from Fox's Arwing, but it was no use. The ship was destroyed once Fox fired another charged shot at it, causing it to explode on impact.

"Let's get this over with. Fire whenever you're ready, Katt!" shouted Falco.

"Got it. Firing now!"

Katt boosted forward to her target and released a bomb from her Cat's Paw starfighter. Around the same time, Falco rushed forward in his Arwing and fired his last bomb at one of the last two turrets. Both pilots quickly swerved to the left or right and flew away from the bomb so they wouldn't get caught in the blast radius. The turrets were just about to lock onto Falco and Katt when the bombs did their job and exploded. The turret Katt destroyed burst into flames and sent hundreds of pieces of fiery metal and shrapnel to the ground. The turret Falco destroyed broke apart into three giant pieces, all of which rolled down the side of the canyon wall like giant rocks during a landslide. All the targets on the pilots' radars disappeared.

"Destruction of turrets confirmed," said ROB.

"Well done team! Area's secured! Get back to the Great Fox and I'll alert General Pepper to send a ground team down there to explore the base," said Peppy.

Fox sighed with relief as he relaxed himself. "Another job well-done."

The Star Fox team and Katt all flew out of the canyon, leaving what was left of the hidden base in smoke. It wasn't long before Fox and the others were surrounded by a dull silence, which was only broken by the sound of the Arwings' and Cat's Paw's engines. Falco turned to his left and saw the Cat's Paw floating close to his Arwing, which prompted the falcon to snort and ask a question.

"So just _how_ did you find us?"

Katt smirked. "I heard that you guys recently joined the Cornerian Command Center, so I stopped by the station myself and learned a bit of information from your pals. Some dogs told me that General Pepper deployed your team here to find a base. And judging from the state you were in when I saw you, it seems like you needed my help. Hehe, aren't you glad I showed up?"

"Oh yes, Katt, I'm absolutely titillated by your presence."

"Good. Then you won't mind if she joins us back at the station."

"Krystal—"

Katt laughed. "I'm sure you boys—and girl—could use help from the great Katt Monroe!"

Falco sighed and shook his head. "Sure, why not," said the blue bird flatly.

"Katt's appearance aside, doesn't this all seem a bit fishy to you, Fox? Amateur starfighter pilots, turrets with menial A.I.; we could've taken those turrets out from the ground with homing launchers where we're much more vulnerable if we wanted to. Why would Oikonny put a bunch of troops out here in the middle of nowhere to guard minerals they could find anywhere else on the planet?" asked Slippy.

"Your theory about this mission being a decoy is starting to make more sense," said Peppy. "But we haven't had any reports about our bases, convoys or troops being hit by Andrew's troops. If this mission was just a decoy or a ruse to draw you away from something important…"

"We'll figure…wait a minute. What if somebody from the base called for help after the alarms went off? What if the turrets weren't the trap we sprung?" asked Fox.

"It's possible—"

Krystal and Katt shouted when something orange zipped past their ships, leaving a strange yellowish-orange trail throughout the sky.

"What the heck was that?" asked Falco.

"Err…some kind of—"

Slippy shouted too when another fast-moving object flew right past his Arwing, nearly clipping his left wing.

"Fox, we're picking up enemy contact on our radar!" Peppy warned the team.

Falco sighed heavily. "Please don't tell me this is Star Wolf."

"I assure you, we're better pilots than those sorry excuses for mercenaries," said a strange, deep voice.

"Wait a minute, I recognize those wings!"

Fox shouted when a third ship zipped just above his Arwing.

"This is Leo. The rest of you have eyes on your targets?"

Falco, anticipating the fourth ship's next movement, quickly descended before the next orange object could fly straight into him.

"Sally reporting. Yeah, hehe, it's the Star Fox team all right!"

Fox couldn't recognize the faces that appeared on the communication channel. He only noted what species they were. The first image depicted some kind of canine, most likely a coyote judging by the ears and grayish-brown fur. The creature who called himself Leo was a gruff lion with a thick dark brown mane. The last one, Sally, looked like a primate with big yellow eyes, a black muzzle, and fur so pale and gray it was almost white. Fox figured she was a lemur.

"Viper here! Looks like Star Fox has a new member! How lovely…can't wait to hear the rookie sssscream when I shoot him down!"

Fox could tell by the voice and the way Viper hissed that he was a snake. And judging by his red, yellow, and black scales, he was either a coral or milk snake. Katt heard what Viper said and scoffed as she went on the defensive.

"As if! You were still wetting the bed while I was busy shooting punks like your team members out the sky!"

Viper hissed, his red tongue flicking out as he grinned. "Ohhhh, so you're _old_! Old means you're weak, fragile, and sssslow! That just makes my job even easier!"

Before Katt could respond, she shouted when someone fired at her ship, causing it to rock as the enemy's charged laser fire damaged her aircraft. The fifth and final member of the group was flying behind Star Fox and Katt, slyly tailing them as he charged up his starfighter's laser again.

"Enough with the introductions. Let's down these guys so we can head back to base," said the fifth member.

Leo the lion growled deeply. "How many times are you gonna do that, Lance?! There's no honor in sneaking behind your enemy and attacking them like that!"

"No, but there is logic," replied the pilot.

Lance was an alligator as far as Fox could tell. All he knew was that the pilot had red scales, and he had a sullen, deadly expression on his face, like he was forced to permanently scowl.

"Why don't you guys stop your pathetic guerilla tactics and face us like real pilots?!" asked Krystal.

The blue fox shouted when the four orange starfighters quickly zoomed through the air and flew straight towards them. Then the pilots immediately hit the brakes and hovered in mid-aid directly in front of the Star Fox team and Katt Monroe. The final pilot flew past Star Fox, performed a U-turn, and then guided his way over to his other four teammates. Star Fox and Katt stared at the five starfighters in front of them, taking note of their ships' design. The enemies' ships looked very similar to the Wolfen II, although the style was somewhat different. The tail was only located on the upper aft end of the ships, and it was composed of two fins that were both diagonal and created a "V" shape. The wings were wide, but thin, and pointed at the ends of them. The edges of the wings were rigid, almost as though they were supposed to represent a pair of serrated teeth. The ships' main bodies were composed of the cockpit, but everything beyond that broke into two, giving it a split "U" or "V"-like appearance. The ships' dual laser cannons were located on the bottom of each ship, and the ships' rocket pods were beside each cannon.

The team's color design was mostly orange and yellow, with most of the orange painted on the wings, and yellow for half of the body. Lance had his modified so the ship was burnt orange, and his wings were mostly red. Viper's was modified so that his ship had yellow stripes, and he painted a logo of his ugly mug on the side of the body, with his mouth wide open and his forked tongue hanging out. But the one thing that stood out about these ships was the yellowish-green logo on the side of each ship's body, which represented a well-known insect.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," said Sally.

Fox couldn't help but smirk slightly as he stared at the five ships. "So this is what the Firefly squadron I've heard so much about looks like."

"It's impressive, isn't it?" asked Viper.

Falco scoffed. "If you guys are anything like Star Wolf, then this should be over in no time!"

The red reptile blinked as he spoke next. "Of course it will end quickly. We're better than you. Faster. Stronger. More experienced. More ruthless."

"Don't confuse narcissism with being better pilots than us," replied Fox. "We've heard it all before pal."

The leader of the Fireflies blinked as he stared at Fox through his communications channel. "I forgot, it's much easier to show instead of tell. If that's the case, then watch as we run your team into the ground."

"No need to get dramatic, Damien," said Leo. "Let's just kick these guys' tails and be done with it."

Slippy couldn't help but feel extremely worried. "Fox, I haven't seen ship modifications like these before…are you sure—"

"We'll be fine, Slips. We've faced tougher foes before and pulled out okay."

"All of you! Get out of there now! We're picking up a strong reading from those ships!" warned Peppy.

"What strong…"

Star Fox and Katt heard an odd and disturbing sound that reminded them of a missile or laser about to fire from a bioweapon or spaceship. The five heroes could see something glowing from within the Fireflies' rocket pods and began to take evasive action.

"CRUD!"

"Emergency maneuvers! Now!" shouted Fox.

All five ships split apart and went in various directions as the Fireflies launched their missiles. They boosted and sped through the skies, twisting, descending, and ascending as much as they could to avoid the missiles. But whatever the Fireflies just fired was locked onto their ships and constantly following them. Falco and Fox could almost hear the missiles whooshing behind them, despite the fact they were turning sharply and using their boost at the same time. Krystal was doing loop after loop as the missile Viper fired continued to chase after her. Even when she somersaulted, the missile would too, and it showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Slippy and Katt were trying their best to get the missiles to crash into the terrain; Slippy flew through a ring-shaped rocky formation near the canyon, and Katt flew inside a narrow tunnel her starfighter could barely fit through. Despite their risky maneuvers, they worked in the long run, and both of their missiles crashed into the terrain and exploded.

"Let's not disappoint our friends now. They want a real fight. So let's give 'em one," said Damien.

Thus began the dogfight between Star Fox and the Fireflies. All the Fireflies split up and hunted down a target as swiftly as possible. Their engines roared as the starfighters flew through the air, leaving the same orange streaks in the sky as before. Some of the Star Fox members had descended back into the narrow canyon to try and escape the missiles. But Katt and Slippy were vulnerable to their foes, and were quickly singled out by Viper and Lance.

"The old kitty-cat's mine! Take the frog, Lance!"

"Certainly."

Viper and Lance flew above each other's ships and began to boost their way towards the Cat's Paw and Slippy's Arwing. Viper wasted no time shooting at his enemy; the multi-colored snake fired the blue lasers from his dual cannons. The powerful lasers shot out of the cannons in less than a second, with each burst making contact with the back of Katt's starfighter. Katt screamed and grunted several times as her ship shook and took more damage. The snake hissed with joy and snickered as he charged up a shot. Katt blinked and spotted a huge rocky structure coming up from the ground. She flew right towards it and didn't even attempt to slow down.

"Ssssay goodbye, kitty-cat!"

Viper fired his charged laser at Katt. And then she boosted forward, veered to the left, and then veered back to the right so she was flying in front of the rocky structure. Unfortunately for Viper, his charged laser shot slammed right into the structure, missing Katt. The snake screamed and hit his brakes when he nearly crashed into the structure from flying too fast. The snake hissed and quickly descended as he flew around the giant rock.

"I'm sorry, did this old kitty-cat just outsmart you?" sneered Katt.

Viper didn't answer. He just snarled and slammed a fist down on the controls inside the cockpit. Meanwhile, Fox had just eluded the missile that was constantly chasing after him. But even after he got away from the missile, he found himself being chased by the coyote Damien. Damien didn't hesitate; he fired bursts of his blue lasers at the vulpine's ship, hoping that he'd gravely damage the Arwing. But Fox knew when he needed to barrel roll; he spun his ship around multiple times, and the lasers made a loud, metallic, clinking noise as they bounced off his ship and left the fox unscathed. Damien blinked twice as he used his boost to try and ram Fox. But Fox anticipated this, and quickly performed a loop and allowed Damien to fly right past him. Fox smirked as he locked on to Damien and began to charge his laser.

"Impressive. I certainly wasn't expecting that move at all. Excellent work," said Damien in a flat voice.

"I get enough sarcasm from Falco already. I don't need any more from—"

Damien did a somersault. Fox gasped and quickly fired his charged laser. But the laser didn't follow. It sailed forward aimlessly and hit one of the canyon walls. Now the coyote was behind Fox again, shooting his lasers at him. The vulpine grunted when he took damage, still surprised that the coyote outsmarted him. He used his boost to try and get away from Damien, but the coyote followed. Elsewhere, Slippy and Krystal were still having trouble as they tried to get away from Lance and Leo. The lion was only using charged shots, since he knew that even barrel rolling couldn't prevent an Arwing from taking damage. The feline fired off a charged shot and watched as it made contact with the back of Krystal's ship. The blue fox screamed as a small amount of smoke began to pour out of her ship.

"Hold on, Krystal! I'm coming to—AAGH!"

Slippy shouted after Lance fired a charged shot at his ship too.

"Try a U-turn! You might be able to confuse the Fireflies!" advised Peppy.

The frog was up for anything at this point. So he performed his U-turn, flipping his ship upside-down and turning around so he was flying in the opposite direction as Lance. The red alligator zoomed right below him, causing the reptile to huff heavily.

"Sally, the frog's coming your way."

"Good. I'm bringing the bird to you!"

Falco was the only one who had the upper hand. He had stuck behind Sally this entire time once he evaded the missile launched at him. The lemur barrel rolled, dipped and rose. She boosted, braked, and twisted and turned her starfighter every which way she could, but the blue falcon was still hot on her tail. The bird groaned with frustration as he fired his single-shot green laser at Sally, which constantly bounced off her ship when she barrel rolled.

"Hold still and let me shoot you!"

The lemur chuckled. "I see you're not going easy on me cause I'm a girl. Good for you. Can't tell you how boring it is when my opponents _let_ me win."

Falco smirked. "Can't tell you how annoying it is when my opponents never stay still!"

Sally ignored him. "You ready, Lance?"

"I see you. Do it now."

Sally veered to the right and used her boost. In the time it took to blink, Lance sped right by Falco's Arwing, tilting his ship so much that his right wing was pointed directly at the ground. Somehow, he timed it perfectly; Lance boosted and flew his ship right at Falco's. His wing made contact with Falco's right wing, but it took no damage. Instead, the edge of the serrated wing sheared Falco's wing right off with a fierce metallic scraping sound. Falco shouted as he heard the warning alarms go off in his Arwing and felt his ship rocking and descending. He looked to his right and saw smoke and sparks coming out of the missing wing.

"AW, CRUD! They clipped one of my wings!"

Sally laughed. "Don't think that just cause I'm a girl that _I'm_ gonna go easy on _you_."

Falco huffed and shook his head. "You sly… I need some help here!"

"I can't get away! Fox, Katt, we need your help!" shouted Krystal.

Fox was just about to help when Damien launched a bomb at his ship. The vulpine shouted and fired his engine's boost. Fox flew right into a cave, but the bomb hit some of the stalactites and exploded, causing the cave to collapse. Fox shouted as the cave rumbled and rocks and debris began to fall all around his ship. He could see the exit up ahead, but rocks were bouncing off his ship, and a few of them even hit the windshield. The vulpine shouted with relief once he flew out the cave, just barely escaping intact. Meanwhile, Krystal was panting as Leo stayed on her tail, firing his dual blue lasers at her Arwing over and over again. The blue fox descended quickly and barrel rolled, moments before Leo dipped down and followed her.

"There's no shame in retreating, you know. That doesn't make you a coward," advised Leo.

Krystal didn't answer. She could tell by the lion's voice that he was one of the kinder Fireflies, as opposed to everyone else, who seemed to enjoy the way they were tormenting the Star Fox team.

"Stop flirting with the fox and shoot her down!" shouted Viper.

Leo sighed and charged up his laser. But before he could fire, the lion shouted as his starfighter shook. Someone just fired a few laser shots at him.

"Make way for Katt!"

Leo grunted again when Katt swooped down and fired at his ship relentlessly. The lion growled and began to fly away, moving up and down and banking left and right around the rocky structures in the canyon.

"Viper, focus on the fox! I'll take care of the cat!" Leo responded.

"On it!"

The two ships split up; Leo started to gun for Katt, while the snake tried to take out Krystal. Leo found himself barrel rolling a few times as Katt chased after him and fired her lasers several times. Leo got hit a few more times and growled as he somersaulted. But at the exact same time, Katt somersaulted as well, so she was still on his tail. Leo quickly flew into one of the caves to try and lose the feline, but she soon followed him inside. Meanwhile, Falco was struggling to keep his Arwing in the air as Sally fired her dual lasers at him, and Slippy was being chased by Lance now. The red alligator snorted as he charged up one of his laser shots and fired it at the frog. Slippy shouted and banged his head against the Arwing controls, his ship taking serious damage. The frog was tempted to retreat when Lance abruptly backed off. Fox had finally gotten away from Damien long enough to assist Slippy. He fired off a few shots at Lance, although the alligator barrel rolled and dodged all the attacks. Lance broke away and decided to focus on a more vulnerable target.

"Leo, go help Viper. You leave the cat to me."

Leo grunted when Katt fired more lasers at his ship. "I can handle—"

"No, you can't. So shut up and take out the other fighters."

Leo wasn't in the mood for arguing right now. He boosted away from Katt and located Slippy and Fox, both of whom were flying straight towards him. He tilted his ship to the left and made sure he aimed right for Slippy's left wing. Slippy didn't know what hit him; one moment he was flying through the air, the next his Arwing was smoking and was missing an entire wing. The frog squealed after his wing was sliced clean off, and his ship began to descend very slowly.

"Darn it! I'm missing a wing too!"

Fox was just about to say something when he grunted and felt someone firing at him again. Damien had returned and was shooting at Fox with no mercy.

"And just where do you think you're running off to?"

"Dang! This monkey won't get off my tail!" shouted Falco.

"I'll have you know I'm a lemur, thank you very much," corrected Sally.

Fox growled. "Katt, Slippy, try to see if you can help out Krystal!"

Slippy huffed. "I'll try, but with my wing gone flying's gonna be difficult!"

The frog and fox went their separate ways, with Damien still determined to shoot Fox down. The vulpine quickly ascended into the sky, barrel rolling constantly as he gained more altitude. He went higher and higher, moving his way through all the clouds as he gritted his teeth. Suddenly, Fox hit the brakes while Damien was still boosting. The coyote gasped and quickly tilted his ship to the right, turning so he wouldn't crash straight into the Fox's ship. Fox quickly tilted his ship down and hit the boost, flying as fast as he could from the coyote until he located Falco, whose Arwing was releasing way too much smoke. He blasted his green laser at Sally and hit her a few times. The lemur barrel rolled and broke away from Falco, giving the blue bird some breathing room.

"Sorry, Fox! Gah, I thought these punks would be easier to take down!"

Slippy had finally found Krystal, whose ship was just as badly damaged as his and Falco's. Leo and Viper spotted the frog approaching, and Viper quickly hit the boost and went right towards him, his ship tilted.

"C'mere, froggy!"

Slippy didn't have enough time to react. Viper ran right into him the same way Leo did. The snake sliced off his right wing, and Slippy's ship began to descend even further. After the wing was gone, Viper performed a U-turn and started to shoot at Slippy, prompting the frog to start flying away. But at this point, his entire ship was smoking and on the verge of failing.

"Knock it off! Get away from me!"

"Not a chance, froggy!"

Slippy shouted when his ship was attacked with another charged burst. His entire Arwing was almost on fire now, the engine was failing, his wings were gone, and smoke and sparks were pouring out of his starfighter. Slippy sighed with defeat as he began to rise into the sky.

"I've taken too much damage! I can't keep this up guys; I have to retreat!"

Viper couldn't help but grin and hiss with satisfaction as he saw Slippy's Arwing disappear into the sky. With Slippy gone, Viper boosted forward and returned to assist Leo, although he looked like he was handling himself pretty well. Krystal, despite having both wings intact, was struggling to stay in the air as well. Once Viper joined in on the attack, it was over. All Leo and Viper needed to do was fire off two charged shots at her, and her Arwing was dangerously compromised.

"My engine's failing! I'm sorry, Fox; I can't go on either! I'm pulling out!"

"Glad you're _finally_ taking my advice," said Leo.

Fox saw Krystal's badly damaged Arwing ascend and disappear into the clouds. Falco and Fox realized they were in trouble now. It was three against five, and one of them had already lost a wing. The only thing they could look forward to was Katt's help.

"I'm disappointed, Fox. Everyone in the Lylat System seems to worship you like a god. But your team's combat skills are adequate at best," said Damien.

Fox didn't get angry. He just chuckled wryly, knowing that the Fireflies were putting up a great fight.

"Okay, I'll admit it: we underestimated you guys. Doesn't mean we still can't beat you!"

"You're talking to the fox who took out Andross all by _himself_!" said Falco.

"Ah yes, him. I wasn't aware that destroying an ape's head and his two hands was something to be proud of," the coyote sneered.

Falco was about to say something when he heard Katt screaming over the communication channel.

"Guys?! A little help here?!"

"Katt!"

Falco and Fox saw the smoke spewing from her ship as Lance chased after her above the canyon. The two ships descended and began to fly through the rocky canyons, with both pilots weaving and tilting their way around any rocky obstacles in their path. Katt grunted twice when Lance filled her ship with more laser fire, watching as the sparks flew and various parts of her Cat's Paw broke apart.

"Just hold on, Katt! We're coming!" reassured Falco.

"Did you hear that? Your friends are coming. Now they'll be able to see your death with their own eyes," said Lance.

Katt somersaulted, but so did Lance. Katt boosted, but so did Lance. She barrel rolled, tilted her ship to do sharp turns, flew through obstacles and caves that anyone could easily crash into, but nothing worked. The red alligator still followed.

"Guys!"

"Just wait a minute! We're almost there!"

"I don't have a minute! This guy's—"

The Cat's Paw began to spew out several errors and warnings after being hit with more lasers. Katt's screen turned red as the inside of her starfighter emitted sparks and smoke. Katt could feel her feet burning and realized that her ship had caught on fire. She could barely see through the smoke and cracked glass. She had almost no control over her ship. Lance blinked as he charged up another shot and locked onto the already mutilated Cat's Paw. Katt tried to veer out the way, tried to dodge, but it was no use. Falco and Fox had finally found Lance and Katt and began to fire. But the alligator fired first.

"KATT!" shouted Falco.

Katt shouted when the charged laser hit her from behind. A small explosion blew apart one of her wings and the back end of the ship. For a few seconds, the smoke blocking Katt's face cleared, and the feline had just enough time to see that she was headed for a canyon wall. There was nothing anyone could've done. The Cat's Paw crashed. The glass covering the cockpit shattered into thousands of pieces and got into Katt's face. The ship slowly crackled and crunched like a vehicle being demolished inside a car crusher. And Katt was right in the middle of the wreck when it happened. For a very brief moment, Katt could feel her legs and waist as they were mangled and torn apart by all the compacting metal. And then, almost mercifully, the ship exploded and incinerated her instantly. Falco and Fox saw it happen. They immediately slowed down and watched as the orange fireball tore a hole into the mountain. The blue bird could vaguely make out a few parts of the Cat's Paw as they rained down onto the ground. Fortunately, neither of them could see what was left of Katt. The fox and bird didn't say anything. They just stared at the explosion as the fireball dissipated, and the pieces of Katt's starfighter were set ablaze on the ground.

"Target destroyed," said Lance coldly.

That was all it took. For a few seconds, the bird was stunned, unable to believe that Katt had just been killed. His whole body felt paralyzed. But then Lance said those words in his nonchalant, icy voice, and Falco was filled with something he had felt many times before: rage. Fox couldn't stop the bird as he bellowed and boosted forward, despite how damaged his Arwing was.

"C'MERE!"

"Falco, wait! SLOW DOWN!" shouted Fox.

Falco didn't care that he was using too much boost or that he was missing a wing. If the Fireflies were going to shoot him down, the least he could do was take out Lance before that happened. By the time Falco found Lance, he almost ran his Arwing straight into the alligator's ship because he was going too fast. The bird shouted as he fired a charged shot at Lance, damaging his ship. The alligator could see he was being chased and started to speed up. Falco charged up another laser shot and fired a second time, hoping he'd take down the reptile sooner than later. Lance began to tilt his ship as he weaved under and over giant rocks protruding from the canyon walls. Fox was trying to catch up to Falco, but the bird was far ahead of him, and Damien was still giving him a hard time.

"So that's what you do: you pick on everyone weaker and smaller than you?! You can't face anyone your own size?!" snarled Falco.

Lance scoffed. "I am over seven feet tall, bird. I doubt _any_ of you are the same size as me."

"Then face me! C'mon, turn your ship around and fight me! Stop running away like a coward!"

"I just killed someone you cared about, didn't I? Your girlfriend perhaps?"

"Shut up!"

"Your wife? Or _ex_-wife, rather."

"SHUT UP!"

"It's a shame she had to die that way. Now you won't even be able to look at her body during her funeral. …If there's still a body left."

"Shut your mouth right now befo—"

Falco grunted when he was hit with a charged shot with such force that he nearly banged his forehead against the glass. Viper had caught up to him and had fired at his engine, and now his Arwing was on fire and spewing smoke all around him. The bird couldn't see anything and was coughing and hacking inside his ship. The bird slowed down and began to descend, just when his Arwing's engine began to fail. Fox had finally caught up to Falco when the bird's ship began to spiral out of control and nosedived towards the ground. Fox could only watch as Falco's Arwing landed right into the ground, flipped around a few times, and then came to an abrupt halt as it landed right-side up in a patch of soil. The starfighter hadn't exploded, but there was still a lot of smoke rising from the ship, and Fox feared that it could blow at any moment.

"FALCO! Falco, respond!"

No answer. The bird was either unconscious or dead. Fox started to breathe heavily when he came to the grim conclusion that he was all alone, and there were five highly-trained fighters he needed to deal with. The other four Fireflies quickly regrouped with their leader and began to tail Fox in a V-formation, all of them ready to kill the Star Fox leader.

"Target's in view, sir. Firing now," said Lance.

The coyote watched as the red gator prepared to shoot another missile at the defenseless vulpine. Damien closed his eyes and thought for a brief moment before he suddenly decided to show mercy.

"Stop."

Lance growled as he cancelled his missile fire. "What? Our target's right there."

"We can't kill Fox McCloud now, Lance. That would be too easy. I just wanted to show him and his team who's more superior. So whaddya think, Fox? You impressed _now_? Or are we still just cocky narcissists?"

Fox shut his eyes and shook his head. He was trying to find the right words to say, but nothing came out. Then again, he was more concerned about the bird who had just been shot down. Damien took Fox's silence as a compliment and sighed.

"Go check on your friend down there. I'm sure he could use your help. For our sake, you better hope he's still alive. The five of us would love to shoot him back down again in the future."

Fox scowled when he heard Viper laughing over the communication channel, and he suddenly knew what to say next.

"Pride comes before the fall…"

"Sorry, what was that?"

"_You heard me_. Keep that in mind the next time we see each other."

"I certainly will. I really do hope we meet again. Haven't had this much fun in a long time."

Fox didn't answer. He quickly descended towards Falco's crash site and immediately landed beside the smoking ship. None of the Fireflies chased after him, even though Lance and Viper desperately wanted to. They kept flying through the canyon, ready to return to base as soon as they could. Once Fox was on the ground, he hopped out his Arwing and sprinted towards Falco's ship, coughing a few times and covering his nose with his arm as the smoke irritated his senses.

"Falco!" he shouted.

There was still no answer. Fox jumped on top of the ship and approached the cockpit, where he saw the wounded bird lying against the windshield. The windshield was so weak and busted from the crash that Fox managed to pry the whole thing off once he grabbed it. The moment he touched Falco and began to pull him out, the bird started to cough up blood and gasped for air. He opened his eyes and looked all around, his vision still clouded by the smoke.

"I gotcha buddy, c'mon!"

Fox grunted as he pulled Falco out the Arwing's seat and got the bird to his feet. Both of them stepped out the smoking ship and planted their boots on the ground, with Falco groaning in pain and collapsing to his hands and knees once he fell. The bird shook and coughed a few more times before he slowly stood back up. There was blood around his beak, a few scratches on his face, and his red flight suit was slightly torn. Falco spat out more blood and what seemed to be glass from his mouth before he took a deep breath.

"…Fireflies?" he mumbled weakly.

Fox sighed and shook his head. "They beat us. We couldn't down a single one of 'em. Guess this whole thing was a trap after all. They wanted us here so—"

"So they could kick our tails and rub it in our faces. …And now Katt's dead."

"…I'm sorry, Falco."

"Be sorry for _them_, Fox. Just wait until I get back in an Arwing and see them in the skies again…"

Fox and Falco looked up when they heard ominous engines roaring in their ears. All five Fireflies boosted right past them, making sure they flew low enough for Fox and Falco to see. As they rushed past the bird and fox, the starfighters left orange streaks in the sky. And then a few seconds later, they were gone.


	2. New Faces

It was never a good feeling to have. That bitter taste of defeat was still stuck in the back of Fox's throat. This hadn't been the first time he felt this way, and if the Fireflies were as tough as they were today, then it wouldn't be the last. Sure, Fox completed his mission objective, but that didn't make him or anyone else on the team feel better. He found it strange as he talked to General Pepper inside the Great Fox as though the primary objective was accomplished flawlessly.

"So the mission was a success then, Fox?" asked the old hound dog.

Fox looked away briefly as he spoke to the general through the ship's comm-links. "Yes, for the most part."

"Hmm? The most part?"

"We ran into the Fireflies as we were flying out of the canyon, sir. I'll spare you most of the details, but they bested us in combat, and they took out Katt Monroe."

"I see," said the general solemnly, before pausing. "That's unfortunate, but the important thing is that your team's still intact. We'll deal with the Fireflies another time, but for now, we need to focus on finding Oikonny before he hits us hard. Get back to the CCC. We may need your team for another mission very soon."

"Understood."

Peppy cut off the communication channel and the screen in front of them went blank. Fox McCloud sighed heavily as he leaned against one of the handrails in the aircraft's cockpit. The old hare spun around in his chair as he looked up at Fox, who was still upset over his recent loss.

"You'll do better next time. No need to beat yourself up about it."

"It's not that we lost that upsets me, Peppy. It's just…"

"What?"

"They killed Katt, Peppy," said Krystal. "They almost killed Falco too. The way they flew, their style, their ship modifications; it was all savage, relentless. They wouldn't stop chasing us no matter what we did."

"Not to mention they trashed our Arwings! You know how long it's gonna take to repair all those?"

"Damaged Arwings are the _least_ of our problems, Slippy, especially since we have reserves," said Fox, with exasperation in his voice. "We're going to run into this squadron again, and we need to be prepared the next time around. If we're not, then they won't just damage our Arwings. We're gonna end up just like Katt. Heck, the only reason why we're still alive is because of pure luck, and because they _let_ us live."

"Okay, okay, I got it," said the frog.

"Well, if this threat about Andrew is true, then maybe you'll be able to brush up on your skills, use some of Andrew's goons as target practice, if you know what I mean," said Peppy.

Fox nodded. "I gotcha. We'll just use this defeat as a reason to improvise, learn from our mistakes."

"Exactly! For instance, now I know that our Arwings need better armor so I won't have to spend all day trying to patch it back up!"

Fox huffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I suppose so, Slips."

The fox paused for a long moment before he blinked and began to walk out of the cockpit.

"I'm gonna go check on Falco."

"Err, Falco doesn't do…personal stuff," advised Slippy.

"He's gonna have to make an exception today."

* * *

Falco was sitting in the medical bay, wincing as he looked down at the gauze wrapped around his midriff. ROB was standing in front of him, checking to make sure that the blue bird was doing okay.

"Are you still experiencing intense pain, Falco?"

"I dunno, ROB. I was in a dang plane crash; what do you think?"

The robot whirred as he turned his head. "I believe that your attitude is in need of improvement."

Falco scoffed and turned away, wincing again when he felt more pain in his side. The automatic door leading into the room whooshed open very quickly, revealing Fox in his standard flight outfit. Falco was still wearing the same clothes, albeit he was shirtless since ROB had to examine Falco's abdomen.

"How's he doing, ROB?

"Falco has suffered from scratches, a burn on his back, and he was lacerated with a shard of metal. I removed the object from his midriff and sealed the wound. Falco should be back to normal soon."

"Thanks, ROB."

While the robot continued to straighten up the room, Fox walked over to the bird to examine the wounds for himself. He did have some scratches on his face, but it was nothing serious. The worst wound he suffered had already been patched up by ROB.

"Guess those Fireflies was better than we thought, huh?" asked Falco.

"Not that much better, but yes, they won this round. We underestimated them, got cocky. But that won't happen the next time."

"Yeah? Katt won't get a next time, Fox."

"…I know that."

There was a very long pause after that. The only thing the two creatures heard was the air conditioning blowing wind through the vents and the occasional whirring sounds ROB made whenever he moved. Fox eventually asked the one question he should've asked the moment he walked in the room.

"Are you all right?"

Falco shrugged. "Just a few cuts and bruises."

"You had your side split open."

"Like I said, couple cuts and bruises."

"What about with Katt?"

Falco paused for a moment before shrugging again. "She's dead. I'm angry. I'm going to kill that scaly piece of filth that murdered her. What else is there to say?"

"You just don't seem—"

"What do you want me to do, Fox? Cuddle up with you as I cry into your chest like a little wimp?"

"You lost a very close friend! I'm not saying that she was your girlfriend, but you did care about her. Telling yourself that you don't feel anything except anger and rage isn't the way to go about this."

"Don't tell me what to feel and don't tell me how to feel it. Katt's dead. I'm mad, that much I'll admit. But otherwise, I'm okay. End of story."

"…Falco—"

"End of story," said Falco as he raised his voice.

Fox stared into the bird's eyes and knew there was no point in reasoning with him or talking to him. He'd let it all out when the time came. But right now Falco was in denial, and he was refusing to get past it. Fox knew when the falcon needed his space, so he sighed heavily and nodded.

"Okay then. End of story."

Fox turned around and walked out of the medical room, while Falco blinked and grunted as he ran a hand along his bandaged abdomen.

* * *

To say that the Cornerian Command Center was massive would be a huge understatement. The Great Fox was tiny in comparison to the whole station, which was big enough to hold thousands upon thousands of military personnel. Everytime the Great Fox slowly flew closer to the enormous station, Star Fox always seemed impressed by the sheer size of it all. The CCC was mainly composed of two gray disc-like structures, with one structure floating just above the other one. In the center of both discs was a light blue oblate spheroid, which connected to both discs via walkways and long bridges. About a kilometer south of the structure was another, flatter, circular structure that looked like a ring with a gigantic hole in the center. Various rectangular components were placed in the middle of the hole, and each one had some form of bridge connecting one to the other. A kilometer north of the spheroid was another flat circular structure, although this one did not have any holes in the middle of it, and looked more like a thin saucer or Frisbee.

In the center of the entire station was a very long elevator shaft that could take anyone to any section of the station, whether it was all the way down to the ammunitions dump, or all the way up towards the training centers. While the station looked like nothing more than four rings connected to each other, with a giant sphere in the center of the two thickest rings, it was actually one of the Cornerian army's primary defenses. As the Great Fox flew closer to the station, they could see the various gunships that were hovering along the perimeter of the CCC, the laser turrets fully charged and ready to blast any starfighters to smithereens. Members of the Cornerian Defense Force would occasionally pop into view of the Star Fox team, flying through space as they made sure no ships slipped through the defenses. There was a cube-shaped satellite that monitored communications from nearby planets and roaming ships, so anyone from the CCC would be able to pick up signals from approaching armored carriers or other malicious spaceships. But those were merely the orbital defenses. Even if the enemy managed to break through them all, they would still have to deal with the thousands of soldiers inside the giant station.

The Great Fox docked along the lower of the two thick discs. Star Fox could already tell by the various other massive aircraft cruisers and carriers that many other mercenary teams were here too. One carrier was painted red and had a stripe going along the back of it; one was blue and had a cockpit shaped to look like a beak; one had a huge logo on it that resembled a behemoth of a lizard riding a lightning bolt; all the giant aircraft carriers were designed and colored differently, just like the Great Fox was. And all of them could fit in one section of the station's docking bay without making the area feel crowded or cramped.

"Did you see the Rotter when we were flying in?" asked Slippy.

"I hope not. I'm not in the mood for smelling those rats' stench today," grumbled Falco.

"Could be worse. At least Remmy and Dumper are nice to us, unlike Doogan," said Fox.

"Being nice is not the same as wearing deodorant."

As the five Star Fox members exited the ship, Peppy turned around and gave the ship's robot an order.

"ROB, stay here and guard the ship. Contact us if you see something wrong or if someone tries to sneak onboard."

"Affirmative."

After the order was given, Star Fox stepped out of the massive aircraft and walked down a metal ramp that led to one of the docking bay's elevators. They all headed inside, and Fox pressed the "2" button on the panel; the docking bay was located on the "basement" level. The team rode the elevator in silence, still not trying to bring up what happened down on Macbeth for the sake of not sparking another awkward conversation. But the elevator moved quickly, and once the clear doors whooshed open, they were finally inside one of the main sectors of the station. When the Star Fox team stepped out the elevator, they could see dozens of soldiers of all shapes and sizes walking, running, or merely patrolling this floor of the CCC. Some of them were members of the CDF, dog soldiers clad in their standard blue uniforms and hats. Others were mercenaries like the Star Fox team, and their squadrons consisted of all sorts of species. The Star Fox team still didn't know everyone on the station; there were so many soldiers, mercenaries and pilots that it was hard for any of them to remember so many names from so many different backgrounds.

"Well, if it isn't the Star Fox team! Good to see you're back!"

The team all looked at the young Akita with a black mask and watched as he wagged his tail merrily and smiled.

"Nice to see you too, Alec," said Krystal as she forced herself to smile.

"I think the general wants to meet with your team in the Core. Didn't sound too urgent, but best not to keep him waiting!"

Peppy sighed. "All right. I'll meet with General Pepper and explain what happened on Macbeth. The four of you can relax for now and chat with the other teams. Maybe they're having the same amount of trouble that we are."

"Got it. We'll see you later then," said Fox.

Peppy broke away from the group and headed forward so he could reach the Core, while Alec went back to patrolling the corridor. After they were gone, the four heroes started walking towards their right, seeking out other friendly pilots who had come back from their recent mission. Star Fox usually stuck together whenever they were in the CCC; it was easy to get lost within the station. Right now the team was walking along the hard metal floor, their footwear clunking loudly as they advanced. The walls and ceiling were all the same color as the floor: a dark shade of green. Huge metal columns that were several feet high and many inches thick were set inside the corridor. There were various screens and monitors placed along the walls depicting televised advertisements or news stories about what was going on in the Lylat System. All the double-doors the team came across were automatic and would slide open with a soft hiss, revealing more rooms and areas the team could head into if they wanted. Slippy briefly got sidetracked when he saw the door to the mess hall slide open, revealing a gray canine who was busy munching on a sandwich wrap smothered in guacamole.

"Maybe one of the squadrons is eating in the mess hall?" suggested the frog.

Fox chuckled. "We'll eat in a moment," he said, as though he read Slippy's mind. "We should find Star Dog first and see what they've been up to."

"Ask and you shall receive! How's my favorite squadron doin'?"

Slippy laughed as he walked over to the chubby bulldog and greeted him. "Hey, Volcano!"

The Star Fox team watched as Slippy and Volcano did a special "secret" handshake that they always performed, which ended with the two creatures bumping their fists together. The chubby bulldog looked at the rest of the Star Fox team and noticed that they were keeping their distance.

"Aw, c'mon! None a' you wanna give your ole pal Rex a big hug?"

"Not when you don't have your shirt on, no," said Krystal.

The tan bulldog looked down at his pudgy white belly and noticed it was hanging out past the waistband of his white pants. Rex scratched his head as he laughed meekly and blushed.

"Right, that. Guess I forgot to put one on this morning!"

"Yeah, 'forgot,'" said a Saint Bernard a few feet away who was fixing some kind of device.

"You guys know I spend a lot of time working out in the gym! It gets hot in there; a dog can't work out when he's wearing a shirt drenched in sweat!"

"Then why didn't you find a clean one?"

Volcano blinked and changed the subject. "So what brings you guys back to the CCC so soon? You guys complete your mission already?"

"Kind of," said Fox. "We just wanted to check on your squad first."

"Oh, we're fine. Say hi guys!"

The Saint Bernard working on the mechanical device nodded slowly. "Sup? Got any spare washers for this thing?"

"Terry, people don't carry washers in their pockets," said Volcano.

The Saint Bernard scoffed. "You'd be surprised."

The other dog in the squadron was a burly fawn mastiff who was standing next to one of the monitors and wearing all yellow. The muscle-bound canine glanced over his shoulder and saw the Star Fox team standing only a few feet away.

"Hi, guys," he said in his deep, snide voice.

"Now don't be that way, Sid! It's not gonna kill ya to speak to people every once in a while!" said Rex.

The mastiff blinked and turned back around, folding his arms as he continued to stare at the news reports on the monitor. The last member of Star Dog was an equally burly canine, a black and rust-colored Rottweiler who was leaning against the wall as he chewed on his meaty sandwich. He knew Star Fox was there, but unlike Sid, who at least greeted them to some extent, the Rottweiler intentionally avoided them. He chewed noisily on his sandwich, paying more attention to the mustard and fried bologna and ham placed between two slices of bread.

"Hi, Doogan," said Fox.

"I'm eating," the Rottweiler blurted out, his mouth full.

"We can see that."

"Then _why_ are you talking to me?"

"Because we can," retorted Falco.

"Maybe you shouldn't."

"Maybe I should knock your teeth in. You ever think—"

"Falco…" Fox interrupted.

The Rottweiler didn't respond. He just kept eating his sandwich.

"Forget him," said Krystal. "Look, the reason why we're checking up on you guys is because we ran into the Firefly squadron today. We took out the base, but they showed up just as we were about to return to the Great Fox."

Volcano whistled. "Hehe, I bet that must've been one heck of a dogfight! Guess you guys had 'em runnin' with their tail between their legs, right?"

Krystal looked down. "Actually, they defeated us. Falco almost died, and a close friend of his _did_ die."

Volcano slowly started to frown. "Dang…sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, sucks when that happens. Lost a friend about a week ago, old college buddy named Albert Jenkins," said Terry.

"Was he attacked by the Fireflies?" Slippy abruptly asked.

The bulldog shook his head. "No, some mercenary squad called the Devil Dogs. They attacked us too just a few days ago when we were down in Fichina. I'm not sure why, but we've been seeing a lot of advanced enemy pilots lately."

Fox started to rub his chin. "Something tells me I already know who hired the Fireflies _and_ the Devil Dogs."

The Rottweiler finished his sandwich and laughed as he chewed the rest of his food. He slowly walked towards the Star Fox team with a smug grin on his face.

"Who cares, Volcano? So long as we beat 'em, that's what matters. Clearly _you're_ not capable of that, Fox."

Fox faced Doogan and started to scowl. "One loss does not reflect on all of my team's _other_ victories. I'm sure Star Dog has had their share of losses too."

Doogan shrugged. "Even so, we're just getting started! If this is gonna happen everytime your team runs into a group of aces like the Fireflies or the Devil Dogs, you may as well leave the CCC and go on home. We'll let you know when you can crawl out of your holes once the fighting stops."

Falco stepped dangerously close to Doogan and snorted. "You're not such a fancy pilot yourself, Dog Breath! How many times have we had to pull your backsides outta the fire whenever it hit the fan?! How many times have your teammates practically begged us to come help them when the enemy was chasing them?!"

"We're still standing here, and we still have ears," said Sid snidely, without looking away from the screen.

"Sure, maybe _they_ aren't advanced pilots, but I am. Tch, and I'm certainly better than your so-called glorious leader here."

"Do you even care that we lost someone today? That cat who was here only a few hours ago is dead!" said Krystal.

"Right, yes, her, that pretty little milk-drinker with whiskers. She talked a lot about you, Falco. I'm sure you of all people know how much she loved milk, don't you?"

"You watch your mouth," snarled Falco.

Doogan grinned so widely that his teeth were showing. "You should be lucky! If that had been a female dog you were dating, I'm sure I'd be referring to her using a different choice of words."

Fox stopped it just as it was about to begin. He reached behind Falco and grabbed his right arm just as the bird was about to punch the Rottweiler. Volcano and Terry did the same, grabbing onto Doogan from behind as they dragged him away from the hostile bird. Falco shouted and thrashed about as he angrily told Fox to let him go. Doogan wasn't smirking anymore, but he still had a cocky attitude hanging about.

"Don't you ever talk about Katt that way again!" screamed Falco.

"Why do you care?! She's dead anyway; if she couldn't even survive getting attacked by the Fireflies, then she's better off in the ground!"

Falco nearly elbowed Fox just so he'd let him go when Sid stepped in and quickly stopped the argument. Everyone on both teams stopped fighting when the oversized mastiff casually walked behind Doogan and wrapped a thick arm around his neck. Terry and Rex let go of Doogan's arms and backed away as Sid put Doogan in a headlock. The mastiff looked down at Doogan as he applied more pressure, gradually causing the Rottweiler to gag and cough as he started to get weaker. Doogan tried to squirm his way out of the dog's grasp, but even a canine as buff as Doogan wasn't stronger than the mastiff. Doogan coughed and slowly collapsed to the floor, sitting down beside the dog's legs as he gradually became weaker and more lightheaded. Sid eventually let go of Doogan, and the dog started to cough and gasp as he rubbed his throat and tried to get his breath back.

"Are you done now? Or should we see how many times I can smash your face into the wall before I break your nose?"

Doogan staggered as he got off the floor and breathed heavily. He scowled as he stared at the teammate who just embarrassed him.

"You…you can't do that to me! In case you forgot, I'm the leader of this squadron!"

Sid lowered his head and got in Doogan's face, to the point where their big moist noses were touching. "In case you've forgotten, I'm bigger than you."

Doogan didn't say anything after that. The two dogs stared at each other in silence while the rest of the dogs and the Star Fox team stared at the duo with bated breath, expecting one of them to punch the other in the eye. But after the long silence, Doogan backed away and shook his head.

"Don't grab me like that again."

"Don't mock fallen soldiers. Now turn around and apologize."

The Rottweiler did as he was told. He slowly turned around and glanced at Falco with folded arms. He mumbled something under his breath as he looked down at the floor. Sid wasn't impressed with his apology, so he smacked the Rottweiler on the back of his head.

"Louder."

Doogan huffed. "I'm sorry, Falco."

Doogan didn't say anything after that. He knew his words would get him into trouble, so he shut his mouth and casually walked away from Star Fox and his dogs so he could enter the mess hall and get more food.

"You're welcome, Star Fox," said Sid bluntly.

The mastiff walked back over to the monitor on the wall and continued to stare at the news program, acting like the Star Fox team had suddenly disappeared. Terry and Volcano looked at Star Fox as they awkwardly scratched their heads or tried to find a way to relieve the tension in the air. But after what Doogan did and said, it was pretty obvious that neither team should be around each other at the moment.

"I'm, uh, I'm gonna go get some grub," said Rex.

"Yeah, Blazer said he wanted me to help him patch up his ship's armor, so…"

The bulldog and Saint Bernard went their separate ways, with the latter taking the contraption he was working on so he could finish repairing it somewhere else. Sid still stayed where he was, and the Star Fox squad tried to forget the little spat they had with Doogan.

"I'm gonna go take a leak. Go find some of the other mercs; I'll catch up with you guys later."

Falco left before his other three teammates could say anything else. Krystal and Slippy stared at the falcon as he walked away, deeply concerned about his state of mind.

"He's not doing okay, is he?" asked Slippy.

"No," said Fox.

* * *

Despite how clean and hi-tech the CCC was, the men's bathrooms weren't very sanitary. There were dozens of other areas around the space station that the janitors needed to worry about cleaning; if there were a few stains and a bad smell inside the bathrooms, then so be it. Falco wasn't surprised to see that the floor (and part of the wall) was wet from what he was hoping was water. The tiled floor had some toilet paper on it, there was some graffiti and rude content scribbled on the walls in marker, and one of the sinks was broken. But none of that was the falcon's main concern. What the bird was fixating on (and thoroughly repulsed by) was the barefooted brown rat standing in the middle of the bathroom. The strong odor of urine filled Falco's nostrils, and the bird could see yellow fluids splashing onto the floor in front of the rodent. The brown rat briefly glanced behind his left shoulder and greeted the bird.

"Oh. Hey, Falco."

"WHY ARE YOU PEEING ON THE FLOOR?!" he bellowed.

The brown rat turned back around and shrugged. "Just seemed like the natural thing to do."

"THERE'S A URINAL RIGHT THERE!"

The rodent shrugged again. "So?"

Falco scoffed. "Move."

He didn't feel like arguing with the unhygienic rat, so the bird shoved him out the way as he walked over to one of the urinals. The rat grunted as he was shoved, which led to him accidentally stepping in his own puddle of urine—not that the rodent cared. The bird unzipped his trousers and started peeing naturally, trying his best to ignore the stench of the fetid rat standing only a few feet away from him. The brown rat faced Falco and sniffed.

"Smells to me like _someone's_ a bit upset today."

"There's a lotta things you smell right now, and they're all coming from you!"

The brown rodent chuckled. "Fail another mission? I thought the Star Fox team was capable of taking out an itty-bitty base on Macbeth. Ah well. Maybe the general will get us to do it, give us a fatter bonus!"

Falco snorted. "We didn't fail the mission! And even if we had, what's the Rot Squad gonna do with all that money anyway, Manny? You gonna use it all as toilet paper?"

Manny chuckled. "Please! Everyone in this station knows that Remmy, Dumper and I never use toilet paper."

Falco didn't want to know what other disgusting things Manny would say, so he stopped talking altogether and kept peeing. He finished up around the same time Manny did, and the bird headed over to the sink and started to wash his hands. But Manny just zipped up his pants and walked towards Falco so he could get a rise out of him again.

"Lucky for you, I'm actually in a good mood today! Everytime your team fails gives other squadrons like the Rot Squad or Star Dog or the Seahawks another chance to shine, to earn the money they rightfully deserve! Your team needs to stop hogging all the good missions that pay a lot of money! Haven't you heard that sharing is caring?"

"First of all, I don't care about you. Second of all, even if I did, for whatever reason, share with you, the only thing I'd loan you would be my mouthwash. You and the rest of your team should try it sometime; you might reduce the chances of making someone pass out everytime you open your mouth!"

"And _why_ would I want my mouth to reek of peppermint?"

Falco scoffed and shook his head. "Bottom line: my team didn't fail our mission. We're gonna get paid for putting out butts on the line today, while you and Remmy and Dumper sat around peeing on the floor or farting until you crapped your pants or whatever gross things you rats do! Sure, yeah, maybe my team got…roughed up today…but we won! We're gonna be here for a very long time, and we're gonna keep completing missions that earn us bigger rewards, so you and your team better get used to that!"

Falco didn't give Manny a chance to respond. He didn't even bother drying his hands because he didn't want the rodent to spout out something condescending or baiting seconds before he left. He just stormed out the bathroom, leaving the smelly brown rodent alone with his arms folded and a scowl on his face.

"We'll just see about that…"

* * *

It wasn't hard for Fox and the gang to find Remmy and Dumper. Shortly after the team took the elevator leading up to the level for the soldiers' barracks, they smelled the rodents the second the doors opened. The three team members spotted the two rats standing next to each other only a few feet away, still chatting about their recent mission.

"I don't know why you had to use your stun grenade! Ya coulda knocked out everyone in that room just by raising your arms!" said the grayish-brown rat with black feet.

The other rodent laughed. "And all you had to do was blast a giant fart in there and all those ruffians would've suffocated, Dumper! It's a shame you…oh, hey, Star Fox!"

"How long have you guys been standing there?" asked Dumper.

"You were saying something about your powerful flatulence," said Slippy.

The large rodent laughed. "You guys can relax your noses today! Mess hall's outta broccoli and beans, so I'm running low on gas!"

"I seriously doubt that," joked the black rat standing next to him.

"Anyway," said Fox loudly, as he awkwardly scratched behind his right ear, "we just got back from our mission. Everything went fine at first, but then we ran into the Firefly squadron."

"Oh dang, that must've been rough!" said Remmy.

"It was. All of us almost got shot down…" Slippy stopped himself. There was no need in blabbing to everyone that Katt was dead—or that they got their butts kicked, for that matter. If Falco was taking this as personally as Star Fox thought he was, then the last thing he needed was for everyone to know about his personal issues.

"Maybe you guys were the lucky ones. Can't even begin to tell you how bad it was when we ran into the Buzzsaws and their Bull Unit!"

Slippy's eyes grew wide. "Y-your team ran into the Buzzsaws?"

Remmy nodded his head. "Ghastly little pilots. You know they got these special missiles that don't even explode on contact? They just saw through your ship; rips the insides to shreds, including the pilot! My squad pulled outta there the moment they started to drain our forces. Heh, Dumper here almost crapped his pants when one of those saw missiles started chasing him!"

"I did not! The only reason why I nearly soiled myself was cause of all them prunes I ate the night before!"

"Sure, _prunes_. Were prunes the reason why you messed the bed last week?"

"No, that was after you, me, and Manny were dared into eating a five-pound bag of sugar-free gummy bears—"

"ANYWAY," said Fox very loudly as he rubbed his forehead, "we were just wondering if other teams have encountered aces like the Fireflies recently, and after talking to you and Star Dog, it seems like Andrew or whoever's working for him is trying to lead us all into a trap."

"Seems like it. Haven't dealt with pilots as devious as the Buzzsaws since Andross was still around."

"We might be able to figure out more if we just ask General Pepper what's been going on. He's probably still in the Core with Peppy," said Krystal.

Fox nodded. "Good idea. We'll find out what's been going on and let you guys know soon. We'll see you later."

"All right. Take care, Star Fox!" shouted Dumper.

The Star Fox team turned around and headed for the elevator again, leaving the two rats to bask in their noisome odors.

* * *

The Core was every computer scientist and software engineers' dream. The Core was the central command center for the entire station; everything was monitored or controlled within the giant sphere. The whole area was composed of multiple floors for multiple districts. The main level was filled with dozens of computers, technicians, monitors, control panels, and air vents to keep the area cool. Various programmers and scientists spent their time inside the room, trying to monitor and hack into enemy installations. Whenever someone tried to send a malicious worm or other technological bug into the system, the programmers inside the Core had to destroy it before it did too much damage. The staff within the Core made sure all the security controls were working, and that all of the station's defenses were in good order. Those not in control of security, programming, or any other cyber-related activities were more than likely a scientist or an architect turned scientist who spent most of their time thinking of new weapons and defenses to build for the troops and mercenaries. But General Pepper and Peppy Hare weren't inside this room for any of that. The reason why they were meeting within the Core was because of the new video feed the aging canine received only minutes ago.

Peppy couldn't believe what he was looking at. The hare could only watch in horror as dozens of Cornerian troops showed up on a giant screen. Peppy, General Pepper, and a few other mercenary pilots were watching as an entire fleet of soldiers on planet Fortuna were obliterated by the enemy. Pilots didn't even have the chance to take off before their starships were destroyed, and almost everyone on the ground was annihilated in mere minutes. Peppy and General Pepper couldn't exactly tell what kind of vehicles and weapons Andrew's troops were using, but the ruffians under his command didn't care about taking any hostages. By the time all the chaos was over, there were no Cornerians still alive. Only dozens of burning, ruined vehicles, and way too many dead bodies to count.

"Shut it off," said the old hound dog.

One of the technicians inside the core turned off the terminal. Peppy looked away as he huffed.

"This _just_ happened?" the hare asked.

"No. Apparently those troops were hit hours ago, when we were all focusing on finding Andrew's bases. They must've all been decoys, small nuisances to draw our troops away from the real priorities. …And we fell right for it."

The general and hare turned away from the massive screen and faced the Star Dog team, along with Falco and a team of reptilian mercenary pilots.

"Now do you understand how grave this situation is? Oikonny's going on the offensive now; he's done hiding from all of us."

Doogan scoffed. "He's just one stupid monkey. Let him bask in his narcissism for now; it'll bite him in the rear sooner or later."

"We would prefer it be sooner, before we lose a large quantity of our soldiers."

The general glanced at Falco and noticed that the blue bird was standing by himself. General Pepper looked all around the room, trying to seek out Fox and his other two members.

"Where's the rest of Star Fox, Falco?"

Falco shrugged. "Don't know. They should—"

Before Falco could finish speaking, the doors for the Core hissed open, and Falco's three other teammates walked through and approached the small crowd gathered around General Pepper.

"You're late," said Doogan, without turning around.

Slippy glanced at the Rottweiler with a scowl, but kept his mouth shut as he stood in front of the general.

"Since you didn't see the footage I just showed the rest of you, I'll be brief: one of our bases in Fortuna was attacked. As far as I know, Oikonny was behind it, and there are no survivors."

"What?! When did this happen?" asked Krystal.

"Just a few hours ago. They attacked the base right after we sent the Spunk Skunks to Titania to try and find a bioweapon after we've heard rumors about one being constructed in the desert."

"I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that they didn't find anything, and they ended up getting ambushed by several enemy pilots and a squadron of aces?"

Doogan chuckled. "Gee, Fox, maybe you should've become a detective instead of a mercenary!"

"And maybe you should've—"

Fox stomped on Falco's left foot, causing him to grunt and shut his beak. Sid slapped Doogan in the back of the head at the exact same time to shut him up too. All of them were standing in front of the general; the last thing they needed to do was embarrass themselves in front of him. The general blinked but ignored the brief argument between Doogan and Falco.

"Precisely. The Spunk Skunks were supposed to be protecting the base, but with them gone, Oikonny was free to attack."

Fox shook his head. "Now I understand. Andrew's been hiding all along, building all these dummy bases to fool all of us into destroying them. And then immediately after we attack—"

"—a group of highly-trained fighters is sent to eliminate the mercenaries that destroyed the installation. And once all of us are gone, Oikonny's forces are free to attack Corneria's strongholds without folly! Brilliant strategy; I wonder why I never thought of it. Well, duh, Lennert, because then you'd be the one working for Andrew! He would've noticed your brilliance and handpicked you to work for his army!"

"Lennert…" said the white-throated monitor lizard standing next to the black tree monitor lizard.

The black reptile scratched his scalp. "No, that's silly. I wouldn't dare work with that filthy monkey. Lizards are smarter and wilier than primates anyway. It'd be dumb of me to—"

"Lennert, you're doing it again," said the other monitor lizard firmly.

Lennert looked up at all the people around him and laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry. Just, y'know, rambling! Keep going."

General Pepper sniffed and resumed talking. "Anyway, that's what it seems like. To make matters worse, we've received Intel that an outpost in Katina and one of our weapons factories and refineries on Macbeth are currently under enemy fire."

The green iguana who was clad in black and standing beside his other lizards blinked. "Where do you want us deployed, General?"

Peppy took over. "The Lightning Lizards will head to Macbeth and protect the factory and refinery. We already have CDF pilots holding off the enemy, so once your squad gets there, you'll be in charge and giving all the pilots their orders, Darwin."

The last member of the Lightning Lizards was a massive, heavyset Gila monster covered in black and pink scales. He was sucking on some mints, rolling them around with his tongue and trying not to make too much noise. After hearing that his squadron would be heading to Macbeth, the gargantuan beast laughed and grinned.

"Good! It'll be nice to be in charge of an operation for a change!"

"We'd better get going then. The longer we stay here, the easier it'll be for Oikonny's troops to blow up that refinery and factory," said Darwin the iguana.

"Good luck," said the general.

The four reptiles all turned around and began to walk out of the Core. As the giant lizard with pink and black scales began to walk, his oversized tail swung back and forth slightly. The huge creature had no idea that his tail bumped against a table leg until the expensive item sitting on top of the table tipped over and fell on the floor. The lizard heard a small crash and stopped walking, knowing he just broke something. He slyly glanced down at the floor and craftily jerked his left foot to the side, kicking the broken item far enough so that it would slide underneath the table where no one would see it. Then he rejoined the Lightning Lizards and quickly departed before anyone noticed what he did. But Peppy and General Pepper saw what happened, and the hound dog could only sigh with exasperation as he slowly shook his head.

"As for the rest of you…given Star Fox's recent defeat, I'm sending the Star Dog squad to fly alongside you as you head to the Katina outpost."

"That-that's not necessary, General," said Terry.

"I know we got our butts kicked back on Macbeth, but that doesn't mean you need to punish us for it!"

"This is not a punishment, Falco," snapped the general, his voice rising as he steadily became irritated. "I am sending Star Dog with you for your own safety. If the four of you run into the Fireflies again, or any other advanced enemy pilots, you're going to need their help."

Doogan was just as indignant as Falco. "If they're gonna perform the same way they did against the Fireflies, then all they're gonna do is slow us down and get in our way!"

"Enough!" shouted Fox.

The blue bird and Rottweiler suddenly shut their mouths so the vulpine could speak. Fox was becoming annoyed over everyone's inability to cooperate with one another.

"The general is not saying we're incompetent, Falco. And the general also did not say that this is going to be routine from now on, Doogan. But after our last mission, we could use a little help until we truly know who and what we're up against. After that, our squadrons can go back to flying solo if that's what you all want."

Volcano shrugged. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"Yeah! Fighting alongside Star Dog is gonna be fun!" said Slippy.

Glad someone is happy about it, muttered Fox in his mind. The other three dogs looked at the Star Fox team with reluctance, wondering whether or not the general was making the right choice. Terry sighed as he began to ponder.

"All right, fine. I guess it won't kill us if we worked as allies. Maybe we could even 'teach' Star Fox some new combat tricks!" said the Saint Bernard.

"We _are_ allies," Krystal corrected.

"No, we're just people working alongside each other in the same space station," sneered Doogan.

General Pepper snorted. "Since flying with Star Fox is so inopportune for you, Doogan, perhaps you should stay here. The toilets in the training barracks need to be cleaned."

"I can't do that, General."

Peppy folded his arms. "And why not?"

"Because my team and I are gonna be flying with Star Fox down on planet Katina so we can save an outpost from being destroyed."

Doogan sighed heavily and shook his head. "Shame. I was really looking forward to scrubbing dung out of all those porcelains."

Krystal rolled her eyes, while Fox couldn't help but smirk to himself. The general began to relax now that both teams had decided to work with each other.

"Does anyone else have any further objections?"

No one said anything. The last thing any pilot wanted was to be reduced to a common janitor. So the hound dog blinked and nodded.

"Good. Then everyone get prepped for the mission. This outpost is one of our primary strongholds on Katina, so failure is not an option!"

"You can count on us, sir," said Fox. "Let's go team!"

The Rottweiler nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get back to fighting together with _real_ pilots."

Doogan quickly turned around before General Pepper changed his mind about not making him clean the toilets. The rest of Star Dog followed after him around the same time Star Fox began to exit the Core. General Pepper watched as the two mercenary squadrons disappeared from the CCC's Core, hoping that they'd set aside their differences and save the outpost before it was too late.


	3. No 'I' in 'Star Fox'

The sky was crowded today. Star Fox couldn't help but feel very cramped as they flew alongside the Star Dog team. Their Arwings were a little too close to Star Dog's Spiked Collars, their customized starships. The spacecrafts were shorter than the Arwings, and thinner too so it would give the team more speed and agility. As a result, the Spiked Collars had weak armor, and a few charged shots could take one down with ease. But the ships' bodies were somewhat similar to an Arwing's; the noses were more rounded, and the wings were curved, making them look like an upside-down "U" was about to form. All the Spiked Collars were painted brown and had white stripes along the body, and the team's logo was of a rabid-looking dog's head that was foaming at the mouth and had crazy-looking yellow eyes. The eight pilots descended through the skies as fast as possible until they could see the barren desert.

"The outpost should be just up ahead!" said Slippy.

"Be ready team. We don't know what Andrew's thugs have up their sleeves this time. Could be another trap," warned Fox.

"If it's another trap, we'll deal with it, like we always do," said Doogan.

"We can't exactly 'deal' with everything, Doogan," advised Terry. "If things look bad, we're pulling out."

Volcano snickered. "Fireflies got ya spooked, huh? It'll be eight against five! No way we'd lose to them, even if they are 'better' pilots!"

"It's not the Fireflies I'm worried about. What if—"

The eight pilots heard a massive explosion in the distance and saw smoke rising into the sky. They were only seconds away from the outpost now.

"We must be close to the outpost now!" shouted Krystal.

Doogan blinked. "Well, _duh_. We don't need you or some invisible entity to tell us the obvious; we have eyes."

Seconds after responding, Doogan saw red lasers flashing past his ship. By the time the outpost was in everyone's view, the skies were suddenly filling up with starcrafts, like locusts ready to swarm vegetable fields. The outpost was on fire in multiple sectors, and smoke was rising from areas that had already been eradicated. The base was bigger than most outposts on the planet, but it was still a vulnerable target since there weren't many troops stationed there. Most of the Corneria Defense Force pilots had been shot down, and the soldiers on the ground were fighting a losing battle, unable to defend themselves from the clunky dark blue tanks blowing holes into the outpost. All the enemy pilots were flying in standard flat starcrafts that looked like triangles from a bird's-eye view and had a small cockpit on top of it for the pilots to sit in. All their ships were dark green and equipped with advanced laser weaponry.

"Looks like we got here just in time!" shouted Fox. "Everyone split up and cov—"

"That's a stupid idea. Splitting up is what idiots do in horror movies when they wanna get murdered by the serial killer!" protested Doogan.

Fox was about to respond when someone snuck behind his ship and started to fire. He quickly somersaulted so he was behind the enemy and fired, blasting at the starcraft until its rear engine exploded and the ship spun around as it quickly nosedived into the ground. Fox huffed.

"Fine then. What do you suggest we do?"

"We break off into teams of two," said Terry. "We'll handle the ground forces; you guys can focus on clearing the skies!"

"You're not the boss of us, Star Dog. We can come up with our own—"

An irritated Krystal interrupted Falco. "You boys can measure the size of your phalluses _later_! Let's stop bickering and help those troops before it's too late!"

"Agreed. The longer we stay here arguing, the easier it'll be for Andrew's thugs to destroy this outpost! Everyone pick your targets and strike, now!" said Fox.

All the pilots knew what their assignments were, so they quickly broke off into four teams and started to shoot at the fighters. Doogan and Sid broke into one team, Terry and Volcano were another, Krystal and Slippy were the third team, and Fox and Falco consisted of the final team. Krystal and Slippy struck first, attacking a group of four enemy starfighters that were relentlessly chasing after a CDF pilot in a damaged aircraft. Krystal fired her single-shot green laser, downing two of the pilots when their ships took too much damage. The remaining two enemy pilots realized that they were being chased and broke away from the CDF fighter they were pursuing.

"Oh no, ya don't!" shouted Slippy, as he began to dish out his own amount of payback.

The CDF fighter, a scruffy-looking Labrador, exhaled after Krystal and Slippy saved him. "Thanks guys. Any longer and I would've been a goner!"

By the time Krystal turned around and started to hunt down the assailants, she discovered that Slippy had already shot them both down. Slippy regrouped with Krystal with a cocky grin on his face.

"Looks like I'm not too shabby after all, huh?"

Krystal chuckled. "Guess not."

Volcano and Terry were weaving between each other's ships as the clunky tanks on the ground fired at them. Some of them fired red lasers that pierced the sky, shooting up into the clouds as though to put a hole in the atmosphere. Other tanks launched missiles that followed the Spiked Collars for a few seconds before losing track of them. Eight tanks all rotated their turrets and charged up laser shots, the ends of each turret whirring and glowing bright red seconds before firing. Terry and Volcano shouted when the sky suddenly turned red, the devastating lasers flashing right across their ships. Both of them performed a U-turn and quickly flew low, aiming for the enemy on the ground.

"I've had enough of this!" shouted Volcano.

Terry and Volcano charged up their lasers. A few seconds later, they deployed a massive hot blast of blue energy from their ships' cannons. The troops on the ground didn't have time to scream before the charged laser shots made contact, creating two massive explosions that blew apart half a dozen tanks and killed three times as many ruffians. The leader of the tank squadron, a skinny baboon manning a tank's turret, shouted and turned away, shielding his eyes as smoke and gravel and sand blew into his face. He lowered his arm and coughed several times as his eyes burned from all the smoke. He could hear the fire crackling and his troops screaming as they were slowly roasting alive.

"Captain, we're under heavy fire! Requesting immediate assistance!"

The captain was a brute gorilla wearing shades and a combat jacket. He was sweating heavily as his own group of ape soldiers tried to destroy the outpost's defenses.

"You're on your own! We can't spare the manpower; figure out a way to outsmart them!"

"I'm not sure—"

The gorilla heard the baboon scream, and then all he heard was deafening static that nearly blew out his eardrum. The captain disconnected the channel and huffed.

"Uh, Captain? I think we just lost our first tank squadron," said a nervous red primate.

The gorilla growled. "Deploy the drill tanks! We need to breach this outpost now!"

Doogan and Sid intercepted the chatter on their comms channel and knew what they needed to do. "We're gonna take out those tanks. Cover us!"

"I'm on it!" shouted Fox.

Fox broke away from Falco for a brief moment so he could trail behind Sid and Doogan. The enemy pilots could see what Doogan and Sid were attempting to do and began to fire at them. They couldn't get close to the ground because the dark green fighters were busy firing charged laser shots at them, all of which the two canines had to somersault over so they wouldn't get hit.

"Anytime, Fox!"

Fox fired at one enemy starfighter and watched as it exploded in mid-air. He was just about to destroy the other one when Falco boosted out of nowhere and blasted at the starfighter until it disappeared into a giant ball of smoke and fire. Fox blinked.

"I had that one, Falco."

"You were taking too long," he retorted.

The Katina soldiers on the ground could see that Star Fox and Star Dog were clearing the skies, but they were still taking heavy damage from all of the enemies' ground fire. There were APCs that had most of the soldiers pinned down within the walls of the outpost, and the tanks were still blowing up the guard towers. Even worse, the drill tanks were slowly digging their way into the compound, using their enormous drills to tear through the fortified walls. The sergeant of the outpost got on the comms channel and alerted the two mercenary squadrons.

"They're about to reach our last line of defense! Take out those drill tanks now!"

Falco could see where most of the drill tanks were and blinked. He quickly boosted and flew low to the ground, readying a bomb.

"I got it. Deploying bomb now!"

"Wh—NO! DO NOT—"

Falco didn't listen. He launched the bomb anyway. Some of the Katina soldiers had enough time to sprint away before Falco launched the bomb. But the drill tank drivers weren't so lucky, as nearly all of them were caught within the ensuing blast. Some tanks were incinerated on impact, lost within the scorching flames. Others broke apart into dozens of pieces, the charred bits of metal and whatever was left of the occupants flying in multiple directions. Some of the nearby ruffians had to duck or back away so they wouldn't get hit by the fiery debris. Despite Falco's risky maneuver, no Katina soldiers were gravely injured, albeit if he had launched the bomb any closer to the outpost, half of the Katina soldiers would be dead or missing a limb.

"What the heck was that?! Do you have any idea how close that was to the compound?! You might've gotten us all killed!" shouted the sergeant of the outpost.

"You're welcome," Falco snapped.

"This is about _saving_ lives, not putting more of them at risk!" complained Slippy.

Falco glanced out his Arwing and could see someone following his teammate. "You are the _last_ person who should be giving me this lecture."

"What—"

Slippy shouted when the starfighter pilot started to fire his red lasers at him. The laser fire nearly tore off Slippy's right wing, and it almost burned a hole through part of the Arwing's main body. Slippy hit the boost as he was subsequently chased by one of the enemy pilots. Volcano could see that his friend needed help and broke away from Terry temporarily, rescuing Slippy when he fired a few laser rounds at the pursuing starcraft. The frog sighed.

"Thanks, Rex."

"No problem buddy!"

Doogan and Sid were flying along the ground slowly, scanning the desert for more potential targets as they tried to avoid the Katina soldiers. Some of the ruffians' tank drivers were roaming, driving all around the ground and looking for other weak points in the outpost. One tank was destroyed by a soldier carrying a rocket launcher on the side wall. Two more tanks fired directly at the wall, blowing a hole into it and killing the five soldiers up there. The primate driving the tank laughed his final laugh when Sid charged up his laser and fired. The blast blew up one tank and caused the one beside it to catch of fire. The monkeys inside all shouted and screamed as fire and smoke erupted inside. They panicked and tried to climb out to freedom, only to die when Doogan fired more lasers at the vehicle.

"Back up, back up! They got a lock on us!"

"Fire," said Sid calmly.

Doogan and Sid released another charged laser shot. A group of five tanks tried to break away, but it did no good. Three were immediately destroyed by Doogan's laser shot, and the other two were set ablaze by Sid's laser. The monkeys in one tank were lucky enough to escape before their vehicle exploded. The others writhed around in their tank in agony, realizing they were trapped inside an oven that was only getting hotter. When the tank exploded, it knocked down the primates who had escaped and sent fiery shards into the air. One of them landed on a fleeing monkey, crushing his body with a loud thwack and crunch. One of the surviving monkeys activated the comms channel with the communique on his arm.

"Our…our second tank squadron has just been destroyed! How could this happen?! There's only a few enemy fighters up there targeting us!"

"When's the reinforcements gonna be here, Captain?!" shouted another ruffian.

"Just a few more minutes. We need to hold out until then!"

Doogan snickered. "They're panicking already. Just stay out of our way, Star Fox. Keep all those enemy fighters off our backs, and we'll be done in no time."

No one on Fox's team responded. They didn't feel like hearing his voice anymore; the less he said, the better it'd be for all of them. So Fox's team obeyed Doogan and let his team work on all the ground forces. The skies were becoming clearer as Star Fox mopped up more forces, rescuing any CDF pilots who were moments away from being shot down. Slippy performed a U-turn and flew straight towards a CDF pilot and the starfighter that was chasing after him. The pilot quickly descended, but the enemy pilot continued to fly straight. Slippy blasted the ship with his laser until it exploded in midair. The frog laughed as he flew right through the burning fragments, the smoke and fire dissipating as his ship blew the fumes away. Fox spotted a lone CDF ship being shot at by four pilots and had to use his boost to save the pilot. Having no other option, he charged his laser and released the blast of energy at all the ships. One exploded instantly, two began to spiral out of control after being caught in the blast, and the final ship lost its left wing after one of the downed ships crashed into it. The final pilot could see that he was in trouble and tried to fly away, but Fox didn't let him escape. He shot the enemy's ship four times and watched as the engine exploded, set the ship on fire, and then crashed into the ground.

"Whew! Thanks, Fox!" said the CDF pilot, a Dalmatian.

While the skies were steadily being cleared of enemy fighters, Star Fox and Star Dog couldn't rescue everyone in time. Two heavily-armored starfighters dropped strange-looking orbs onto the outpost that turned out to be bombs. They blew a hole right into the roof of the outpost's main building, trapping some soldiers beneath all the rubble. Terry briefly broke away from Volcano so he could save a CDF pilot, but by the time he started shooting at the assailants, the starcraft was shot down. Krystal and Falco could see that the bombers would be the outpost's biggest threat and started to gun for those ships instead. They were bigger, moved slower, and had purple stripes all over the body, but they also had a lot more armor. Krystal and Falco fired their lasers at the bombers over and over again and watched as sparks flew and pieces of the starfighter began to break apart, but the ships were still flying. The duo spent so long focusing on the bombers that they neglected the rest of the ordinary fighters polluting the sky, and were promptly fired upon. Falco growled with frustration before he somersaulted and got behind his enemy.

"Hold on guys! We're coming—"

"I got 'em," Falco interrupted.

Slippy and Fox didn't need to help. Once Falco performed his loop, he took down the ship that was chasing after him, along with the one tailing after Krystal. Terry noticed that the ground forces had been nearly decimated and headed over to take out the bombers.

"I got the bombers. You guys focus on the rest of the ships!"

Falco and Krystal didn't feel like wasting any more time, so they flew away and worked on mopping up the rest of the enemy.

"How many tanks are left?" asked Doogan.

"Approximately seven," replied ROB.

"I wasn't talking to you, robot."

"To be fair, you didn't specify a name. You just asked a general question. Heck, one of those apes on the ground could've answered you if they wanted to," Terry pointed out.

"I don't need any of your lip right now! Just tell us how close we are to eliminating the enemy!"

Peppy sighed. "Our radar is showing that over seventy-five percent of the enemy's gone. Once you take out their captain, they should retreat."

"Good."

Terry fired off a charged shot at one of the bombers and blew out its engine. The entire ship began to explode in multiple areas, causing bits of fiery metal to rain down onto the ground. It slowly veered to the right and groaned as it plummeted to the ground on fire. The bomber landed right on top of several tanks that had already been destroyed and disappeared within a huge fireball, the blast sending more debris into the air. By the time the fire and smoke began to dissipate, all that was left were three giant parts of the bomber resting silently on the ground.

"Hey, pay more attention, Volcano! You got one on your tail!"

The bulldog laughed. "I know I do. Watch this!"

Rex quickly boosted through the skies, and the enemy starfighter boosted behind him. Both pilots left streaks in the air as they flew up and down, barrel-rolling and twisting and turning. Rex flew straight ahead with a large grin on his face. What he was doing was idiotic, if not suicidal. But he wanted to have a little fun, and he knew his plan would work. So he accelerated as much as he could, hoping that the enemy would get closer and closer to his Spiked Collar. When it finally did, Volcano tilted his ship and veered to the left, flying right around the second bomber. The enemy starfighter was not so agile, and the pilot couldn't react so quickly. The pilot screamed as he hit the brakes and tried to avoid the bomber, but it was useless. He crashed right into it, killing both pilots instantly. Star Dog and Star Fox watched as the bomber began to spew out smoke, and then abruptly nosedived into the ground and exploded into dozens of pieces. Volcano laughed after witnessing the damage he had done.

"Hoo-yeah! Enemy bomber down!"

"Great work team! Looks like there's only a few more enemies left!" said Peppy.

The gorilla captain on the ground received a private message from reinforcements and snickered to himself. "D'ya hear that boys?! Sounds like the Devil Dogs—"

The gorilla was silenced when Sid fired a charged laser shot at his tank, killing him and all the primate soldiers around him. The giant mastiff slowed down and began to soar through the air aimlessly.

"Dang…did that gorilla just say 'Devil Dogs'?"

"Warning! New enemy squadron approaching!" warned ROB.

Fox grumbled. "How many?"

"Looks like four," said Peppy. "Guess that captain had these mercenary pilots on speed dial."

"This is the last thing we need," growled Doogan. "Take out the rest of the tanks fast! After they're gone, we're outta here!"

Fox blinked as he saw the blips on his radar approaching the area. He knew retreating would be the smart decision, but he had already suffered one loss and felt humiliated and sore about it. Katt's death was still hitting the team pretty hard, Falco especially, and since the Fireflies were still active, that meant they were free to harm hundreds if not thousands of innocents across the Lylat System. Fox knew there were more mercenary squadrons like the Devil Dogs and Fireflies out there; he couldn't turn tail and run everytime one showed up.

"We're staying."

Doogan snorted. "What?"

"It's four against eight. Even if they have more skill and experience than us, they're outnumbered. There's no way they can take us _all_ down."

"Are you forgetting how 'well' your team did when fighting the Fireflies?"

"These guys aren't the Fireflies. If we run away everytime these aces show up, the enemy will take notice of that. They'll have aces fly alongside them during every single subsequent battle because they'll know we'll be too cowardly to face them head on! Let's see how Andrew responds once he finds out that we _can_ take out his 'superior' and 'advanced' pilots."

As stoic as Sid was, the muscle-bound mastiff found himself smirking just a little after listening to Fox's logic. After all, the Devil Dogs weren't going to magically go away unless someone took care of them.

"He's got a good point there, Doogan."

Volcano laughed. "Yeah, let's show these punks what we're made of!"

"We _do_ have numbers on our side. All of our skills combined should be enough to defeat these guys," advised Terry.

Krystal smiled. "So we're all agreed then?"

"Err, yeah," said Slippy reluctantly. "So long as these guys don't have some special weapon that can slice off our wings!"

"I'm not running away unless I absolutely _have_ to. But feel free to leave if you're too chicken, Doogan," said Falco.

Now Doogan had to stay so he would save face. The Rottweiler snarled with annoyance as he began to regroup with the rest of Star Dog. "All right, all right then. I'm feelin' lucky today anyway."

Fox nodded. "I can see 'em coming now. Star Fox, engage!"

"Star Dog, engage!" shouted Doogan.

The eight ships all regrouped with each other, activated their boost, and zoomed through the skies so they could face the Devil Dogs. Somewhere in the area not far from the two squadrons, four starfighters were steadily flying through the air. All the starships were short, yet wide, packed with armor, yet still able to move very fast. All the planes had two short wings with a large tail. The bodies of the ships were flat, making them look like rectangular cardboard boxes from above and below that curved on the sides of the ships. The noses of the ships were rounded like cylinders, and the very tip was equipped with heat-seeking missiles. The bodies of the starcrafts were painted red, with four brown stripes going along the exterior. The edges of the tail and wings were also painted brown as well. The canines even painted a very crude image of what looked like a hellhound opening its wide mouth and showing off its grotesque and serrated fangs. It was painted in a way so that it looked like the mouth ended right at the nose of the ships, making it appear like the hellhounds were the ones releasing heat-seeking missiles.

The Devil Dogs could see the eight blips on their radars quickly coming their way. They weren't certain who their enemy was just yet, but at this point, they didn't care. All they knew was that none of them could leave this planet alive after all the damage they've caused.

"I see 'em now. Everyone got a visual?" asked the leader, a scarred bulldog who was missing part of his left ear.

"Dellyn here. Eight enemy starcrafts coming our way," said a fluffy Tibetan Mastiff.

The third member of the squadron, an old Irish Setter who looked like he was losing his fur, glanced down at his radar and saw the eight heroes coming towards them as well.

"Irvin reporting. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's Star Dog and Star Fox."

The last pilot, a fox terrier with smooth black and white fur, giggled. "Good. Can't wait to watch as these cowards run away after we give 'em a fierce beating!"

"We're not letting them run away this time, Carmine. They've done enough damage here; none of us is heading back to base until they'll all shot down. Agreed?"

"Roger that!" said Dellyn.

"Gotcha," responded Irvin.

"Whatever you say, Captain!" said Carmine.

It only took a few more seconds before the Devil Dogs were within firing range of Star Dog and Star Fox. Once they got close, all of them chose their targets and locked on.

"Fire now," said the leader calmly.

Star Dog and Star Fox heard a very loud whoosh and watched as four missiles soared through the air and began to follow four of the eight ships.

"Oh crud, not this again!" whined Slippy.

"All units break! Break!" shouted Fox.

The eight pilots had to split up, with four of them being followed by the relentless missiles. Slippy panted as he boosted away from the pursuing missile, flying high into the air until the missile lost track of him. Volcano and Sid constantly barrel-rolled in case the missiles wound up hitting their ships regardless of how fast they were moving. Fox was just focused on speeding his way through the skies, hoping he'd fly past a Devil Dog and fool the pilot into running straight into the missile he fired. The bulldog with a maimed left ear saw the "pitiful" performance from Star Dog and snorted.

"Off to a bad start, Doogan."

"You shut your mouth, Jetert! Even a racecar driver in last place can speed his way to the finish line first!"

"…Your metaphors are repulsive. Stick with your usual abrasive attitude and comments will you?"

Jetert grunted when Doogan snuck behind his ship and started to blast him with laser fire. The bulky Rottweiler snorted as Jetert's ship took damage.

"How's that for abrasive?"

The four heat-seeking missiles eventually lost track of their victims, and Volcano, Sid, Slippy and Fox were able to fly freely. Krystal and Fox were about to seek out Irvin's ship when Falco intervened. The Irish Setter saw streaks of green laser fire behind him shortly before his entire ship shook. Irvin knew that he was being followed and began to boost through the air, with Falco still firing at him relentlessly.

"You came behind me _reeeeeaaaal_ fast, bird!"

The fox terrier laughed. "Gotta watch out for them avians, Irvin! Always knew 'em for being quick!"

Irvin quickly somersaulted so he was behind Falco; Falco somersaulted almost immediately afterwards. The Irish Setter blinked and tilted his ship towards the left as Carmine covered him. Falco felt his ship shudder a few times as the fox terrier shot a few bursts of his laser at his Arwing. Meanwhile, Doogan was under fire from the Tibetan Mastiff. Dellyn watched as Doogan boosted, performed a U-turn, and then charged up his laser so he could fire it at the fluffy dog. But the moment Doogan fired, Dellyn descended, and the charged laser wound up making contact with nothing. Seconds later, Doogan shouted when Jetert came behind him and hit him with a charged laser shot. The Rottweiler scoffed and began to boost away until Krystal intervened and blasted a few holes into the bulldog's ship, causing him to break away.

"They seem to attack in groups of two. Stay alert everyone!" warned Krystal.

"See, Fox? Even your enemies are smart enough to know that splitting up is a dumb idea," sneered Doogan.

Fox ignored him as Peppy gave the team crucial advice. "Maybe you could catch them off-guard if you all try the same thing."

"Understood. Slippy and Sid can take out Jetert! Falco and I can work on Irvin—"

"I'm already on him, Fox. He's not getting out of my sight," the falcon replied.

Krystal shouted when Irvin, Carmine, and Falco all flew right past her ship so fast their wings could've cleanly sliced through her Arwing. Irvin was being chased relentlessly by Falco. Carmine was trying to protect his teammate, but he was failing miserably. The Irish Setter somersaulted and hoped he'd throw a curve ball at Falco, but the bird did the same. Carmine was going so fast that he flew right past them both and nearly ran into Terry, who immediately started to fire at his ship.

"Uh, Carmine? Little help here?!"

Carmine growled as Terry as well as Volcano began to tail after him, resulting in Carmine boosting and weaving left and right to avoid the two dogs' lasers.

"I'm kinda busy myself!"

The chubby bulldog flying alongside Terry grinned. "We'll keep the terrier busy, Fox! You and Falco can take out the Setter!"

Carmine and Irvin were both being chased, so Jetert and Dellyn had to step in and cover the two. Dellyn targeted Falco first when he noticed how relentless Falco was being. The bird was still chasing Irvin, even after Dellyn started to fire at him and damaged his Arwing.

"You've got an enemy on your tail! Do a loop!" advised Peppy.

The blue creature ignored him. "This guy's not getting out of my sight. Someone take care of the dog behind me!"

Krystal provided support and started to charge up her laser. But before it was fully charged, the blue fox shouted when Jetert blasted her with his own charged laser. Dellyn fired at Falco even faster than before, hoping the bird would grow a brain and break away from Irvin. But Falco was still chasing him, charging up his laser and firing it at Irvin's ship over and over again. The Irish Setter was beginning to panic. His ship was releasing black smoke, some of the paint had chipped off, various metal fragments had broken away, and he was having trouble keeping his ship stable.

"You're taking too much damage, Falco! Break away!" ordered Fox.

Falco grunted as Dellyn hit him a few times with his lasers. "I told you, this guy's almost down! Just cover me until the target's destroyed!"

Slippy, surprisingly, wasn't under enemy fire, so he supported his teammate. "I'll take care of it."

Dellyn was gritting his teeth as he prepared to fire another heat-seeking missile. He locked onto Falco's Arwing as quickly as possible and was about to hit the button to release the missile when his ship shuddered. Slippy started to fire at the Tibetan Mastiff, forcing him to break away from Falco. Irvin shouted when Falco released a charged shot at his ship, causing the engine to fail and sputter as sparks flew and the ship belched out more smoke.

"I've taken too much damage!" said Irvin over static on the comms channel. "I'm bailing out! I'm bail—"

The other three Devil Dogs heard Irvin scream over the static when he was hit a few more times with Falco's laser fire. Irvin's ship exploded from behind and began to spiral out of control as it headed for the outpost. There was nothing the Devil Dogs could do except watch as Irvin's ship crashed into one of the outpost's guard towers and exploded. What was left of the ship cartwheeled along the ground until there was nothing left except chunks of the starfighter scattered across the desert set ablaze.

"Irvin, respond!"

"He got out right? Someone saw Irvin eject before it crashed, right?"

"…Irvin?"

No answer. The Devil Dogs couldn't even see a parachute or anything indicating that the Setter had bailed out before it was too late. Carmine clenched his hands into fists while Jetert closed his eyes and shook his head solemnly.

"You're gonna pay for that," Dellyn snarled.

"Heh, so what were you saying about my team being off to a bad start?" teased Doogan.

Jetert immediately performed a U-turn so he was heading for Doogan. Then he launched a bomb, and the burly canine gasped.

"OH, CRUD!"

Doogan quickly tilted his ship left and boosted, shouting as he barely escaped being blown to bits. His ship was still caught in the blast though, and his entire ship shuddered so much he almost banged his head against the flight panel. Dellyn did a U-turn as well and started to fire at Slippy's ship, hitting him a few times. He locked onto another Arwing and fired one of his heat-seeking missiles without hesitation, watching as the weapon soared through the air and began to follow Krystal. The blue fox immediately hit the boost and ascended, gaining altitude as she got further and further away from the deadly missile. Carmine was the one who was going all out now, launching bombs, missiles, and charged shots at his enemy whenever he had the chance. He had lost Terry and Volcano and found Sid and Fox instead. The terrier launched a bomb at them, and snarled with frustration when they both escaped the blast radius. Terry quickly flew by his ship, and the dog began to chase after him until he locked onto his Spiked Collar and fired a missile. The Saint Bernard panted a few times as he tried to evade the missile, but he boosted a few seconds too late, and the missile wound up hitting the back of his ship.

"Dang it! This dog won't let up!"

Volcano could see the state of Terry's ship now. Smoke was coming out of it and the canine was having trouble keeping the Spiked Collar steady. A few holes were in the ship as well, most likely caused from shrapnel the missile released.

"Your ship ain't looking that good, buddy! Pull out!" the bulldog warned.

Carmine snarled as he locked onto Terry again. "That's right you stinkin' dog! Just hold still—"

The terrier shouted when Falco fired a charged laser shot at him. It gave enough time for Terry to fly away, and his attack distracted Carmine as well. The terrier growled as he veered to the left and began to fly after Falco.

"Oh, you want some too birdy?!"

Jetert sensed that something wrong was going on. "Stay on your guard! That bird could be leading you into a trap!"

"There's no one else following me, sir! I'm taking this giant chicken down!"

As Carmine began to follow Falco, the bird performed a U-turn and began to fly straight for Carmine, boosting with all the power his Arwing allowed. The fox terrier saw what the bird was doing and decided to play his little game. He grinned widely and boosted too.

"Oh, you wanna play, birdy? C'mon then! There's only one chicken here, birdy, and it sure as heck ain't me!"

Falco, surprisingly, didn't respond. He just kept flying forward, heading straight for a collision course with Carmine. The fox terrier had a missile locked onto Falco's Arwing, but he didn't move an inch. Peppy and the rest of Star Fox could see what the blue falcon was doing and started to panic.

"What are you doing, Falco?! Get out of there!" yelled Krystal.

"That dog's locked onto you! Evade!" warned Peppy.

"Relax guys. I know what I'm doing."

Falco and Carmine were dangerously close now. The terrier could almost see Falco inside his Arwing. He launched his missile and laughed, waiting for it to blow Falco's Arwing to bits. And then Falco swiftly rose into the air, dodged the missile as it flew beneath his Arwing, and then descended so he was flying right at Carmine again. Falco evaded the missile so quickly that someone wouldn't have even known what happened if they blinked. Even Carmine couldn't comprehend how he missed. Both ships were yards away from each other. Then feet. Then inches. Carmine was moving so fast he didn't have time to turn or even hit the brakes. All the terrier could do was open his mouth to scream, even though no sound came out. Falco rammed his Arwing directly into Carmine's ship, making sure that the tip of his starfighter hit the cockpit. For a very brief moment, Carmine could see the nose of Falco's Arwing as it shattered the glass dome of the cockpit and ruptured the flight panel. And then everything went black as the Arwing's nose crushed Carmine's head. His skull was shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, his brain turned into pulp, and blood exploded all over the inside of Carmine's ship, leaving a huge crimson mess.

It only took half a second for it all to happen, and then Falco immediately tilted his ship to the left and was flying freely in the air. Carmine's headless body twitched a few times as blood continued to gush out of the wound. His body then became limp, and he no longer had control of his plane. His body started to cool as the heat left it. His bladder emptied its contents, leaving a very large stain on the groin region of his flight suit. And then the ship just nosedived and landed on the ground, crashing and flipping over a few times as the starship wrecked. Jetert and Dellyn saw Carmine go down, and although his ship didn't explode, it was brutally mangled and releasing too much smoke. There was no way Carmine would've survived the crash, even if Falco hadn't already crushed his head.

"Carmine's down! What the heck just happened?!" shouted Dellyn.

Falco smirked. "Let that be a lesson to you all that I'm no chicken. I'm a _falcon_."

Jetert and Dellyn were starting to panic. They already lost two of their squad mates in only a matter of minutes, and they failed to shoot anyone else down. The mastiff and bulldog realized that attacking two-by-two wasn't possible anymore, so they had to split up. The moment they did, Jetert launched another bomb to try and take out a few members of Star Fox. But Fox, Slippy and Krystal managed to avoid the blast radius before their ships took too much damage. Dellyn immediately went for Terry since his ship was already heavily damaged. He armed a missile and prepared to fire, only to have Sid rush up behind the dog so he could block Dellyn's line of fire. But the mastiff launched his missile anyway so it would follow Sid. The muscle-bound dog grunted when the missile hit him only a few seconds later, and Dellyn started to fire his laser at the giant dog since he got in his way. Sid boosted forward as Dellyn chased after him, his ship damaged and leaving a trail of smoke like Terry's starfighter was. Jetert was trying to gun for Falco, but Doogan, Volcano, and Fox were all chasing after him and firing charged shots at him repeatedly.

The bulldog, despite his remarkable skills and experience, knew that numbers were not on his side. At one point, Jetert saw one of the CDF pilots joining in on the fight and shooting at him. He shot down the pilot out of frustration, and simply because he knew the regular pilots were rookies compared to him. Jetert somersaulted shortly after shooting down the pilot and got behind Fox. He immediately locked onto the fox's Arwing with a heat-seeking missile and fired. Fox somersaulted as well, and the missile eventually lost track of him and flew out of everyone's vision. Fox felt his ship shudder when Jetert shot at him a few times, but that all changed once Volcano fired a charged laser at the bulldog. Jetert shouted and heard something explode inside his ship. His flight panel was releasing a few sparks and the bulldog could smell smoke and burnt metal within his starship. Dellyn could see his leader was in trouble and snarled as he broke away from Falco, realizing saving him was more important. But even as he boosted, he could see that Fox, Doogan and Volcano were shooting lasers at him over and over again. More tiny explosions erupted from the red and brown-striped ship, and the right wing was severely damaged.

Doogan and Fox charged up their lasers simultaneously, as though they were racing each other to see who would shoot first. But they both wound up deploying bursts of energy at the exact same time. The blue and light green bursts of energy erupted from their ships' cannons and zoomed forward, slamming into the back of Jetert's ship. It didn't matter who fired first; the outcome was the same. Jetert shouted as he lost control of his ship and the engine exploded. The fire within the ship spread quickly and reached the fuel tank. Jetert's starfighter didn't even have time to hit the ground before it exploded in mid-air, blowing apart into four huge chunks composed of the wings and what was left of the body. Some of the debris rained down onto Andrew's troops still on the ground, crushing a few of them and narrowly missing a tank. Dellyn saw the blip on his radar indicating Jetert's presence go away, and as he flew around the outpost, he saw what was left of his ship lying on the ground.

"Our captain's down!" the mastiff shouted.

It wasn't until a few agonizing seconds later that Dellyn realized no one was responding. The rest of his teammates were dead.

"Oh no. This…this is impossible! Am I the last one?! This can't be happening!"

The Rottweiler couldn't help but snicker after hearing the fear in his enemy's voice. "S'matter, Dellyn? Upset that your captain isn't around anymore to hold your hand and change your diaper?"

Dellyn didn't know what to do. His right hand shook as he held the flight stick. He wasn't sure if he should flee or unleash all his fury onto Star Fox and Star Dog. But it was eight against one, and his ship was already partially damaged. He felt like calling for reinforcements, but he and the rest of the Devil Dogs _were_ the reinforcements. No help was coming, and chances were he'd be dead anyway by the time they got there.

"Whaddya think, Doogan? Should we let him go or shoot him down?" asked Sid.

"He might know more about what Oikonny's up to, or the Fireflies for that matter. Why don't we take him back to the CCC for interrogation?" suggested Peppy.

"He's a fly. The only thing flies are good for is being swatted out of the sky," said Falco coldly.

Dellyn felt a sudden surge of rage building up within him. If he was gonna die, he may as well take this bird down with him. The Tibetan Mastiff shouted as he did a U-turn and headed straight for Falco, readying another heat-seeking missile. But Falco was prepared for this, and he charged up his laser cannon and locked onto Dellyn's ship. But instead of firing the bright green blast of energy, he released a bomb, which turned itself into a heat-seeking bomb. It slowly flew through the air towards its target, causing Dellyn to scream as his eyes grew wide. He panicked and hit the brakes, but it was too late. Falco shielded his eyes as Dellyn's ship disappeared in the ensuing explosion. None of the pilots could even see what was left of Dellyn's wreckage fall to the ground. The dog and his starfighter were incinerated in the explosion. Volcano watched as the flames and fireball dissipated and realized almost nothing was left. The Devil Dogs were no more.

"Whoa! What…you got him?!"

"Is that all of 'em? Are all the Devil Dogs gone?" asked Slippy.

"I'm not picking up any starfighters on the radar, and it looks like whatever ground forces are left are retreating. All targets down!" said Fox.

Terry sighed heavily. "I can't believe we actually did it!"

Volcano grinned. "I'd sure love to see the look on Andrew's face once he finds out what we did to one of his 'elite' squadrons!"

"What do you mean 'we'? Falco did most of the work here! I'm surprised, bird. You took out three of those dogs. And here I thought everyone on Fox's team was incompetent," said Doogan.

"While I will agree that your skills have impressed me, what you did today was reckless, Falco. You went after all those dogs on your own and put yourself at risk when we easily could've helped you!" said Fox.

"We all took care of the Devil Dogs without a single casualty, right?"

"Yes, but we could've brought that mastiff in for interrogation! Now how—"

"Then stop complaining. I'm fine, you're fine, Slippy's fine, and Krystal's fine. How we got the job done doesn't matter. The outpost is saved, and the Devil Dogs have been dealt with."

"Yeah, Fox! Take that big ol' stick out your butt and bask in your victory. Geez…" said Doogan.

Fox huffed with frustration and shook his head. "Fine then. All aircraft report!"

"I'm okay, nothing I can't fix once we head back," said Slippy.

"I've taken some damage, but it's not too serious," responded Krystal.

"My Arwing's fine, Fox," said Falco.

Fox glanced over at Falco's Arwing and noticed all the smoke coming from it and the fact that some fluids and sparks were spewing out the bottom of the starship.

"Your ship doesn't look fine, Falco. Another missile hits it and your ship could explode."

"I think I can manage flying to Great Fox before that happens."

Doogan ignored the brief argument going on with Falco and Fox and worried about his own team. "What about you guys?"

"We'll be okay, Doogan," said Volcano. "Terry and Sid got hit by missiles, but it's not too serious, so long as they don't get hit again."

"Good. The outpost is saved, we're all still alive, and the Devil Dogs are finally gone. Now let's get the heck outta here before more trouble shows up."

"He's right, Fox. If another squadron of aces appears, both teams may suffer casualties. Let's head back to the CCC and get everyone patched up," said Peppy.

The fox nodded. "Okay. All units, head back to base!"

There was no need for further discussion. The eight pilots all tilted their ships upwards and began to ascend into the skies so they could head back to their giant aircraft carriers. The remaining Katina and CDF soldiers were busy cheering or catching their breath as they finally realized that they were safe for now. As Fox flew higher into the planet's atmosphere, he kept glancing at Falco and his Arwing, wondering what was going on inside the falcon's mind. He really did wish the bird would open up to him and explain what was wrong; acting this reckless wasn't the way to deal with all the pain he was going through. Eventually, Fox just sighed and shut his eyes. He'll come around sooner or later, the vulpine thought. …But I guess now's just not the time.


	4. Rugged Beasts

All he had to do was stand there and listen to the monkey ramble. Sooner or later, he'd shut up. That's what he was hoping for anyway. But everytime the coyote was in the monkey's presence, he always seemed to be bombarded by his employer's overzealous, exaggerated behavior. Damien blinked and scratched his face, still clad in his yellow and orange flight suit and eager to go on his next mission.

"Are you absolutely sure?!"

"Yes, Oikonny. All four of the Devil Dogs are gone. I'd provide you with proof, but I'm not sure how comfortable you are when it comes to looking at charred body parts."

Andrew responded by shouting and shoving his beverage against the wall. Damien didn't even flinch as he watched the glass shatter and the fluids splash onto the carpet. Andrew's office wasn't exactly the cleanest area on the base, in large part because blueprints and maps and sketches were laid out across tables and the floor. Oikonny started to breathe heavily and growled, standing up from his chair as he began to create a fist.

"THAT BLASTED FOX!"

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Burns!"

Damien shut his mouth. The grayish-brown coyote knew that the monkey would inevitably burn himself out. He started pacing back and forth, rambling to himself.

"My plans are just getting started, and I've already lost one of my elite squadrons! How long will it be before they take out the Mackerel squadron, or the Buzzsaws, or even your precious Fireflies?!"

Burns flared his nostrils and blinked, but his expression was still emotionless. "I assure you, my squadron will not fail. We've already bested Star Fox in combat before."

Oikonny scoffed. "Lucky shot! But Star Fox is smart! They'll figure out a way around your attacks!"

"No, they won't."

Oikonny shouted again and kicked his desk for no reason, leaving a dent in it after slamming his boot against it. The pink monkey sighed heavily as he leaned against the desk and rubbed his head.

"How much time?"

"Until what?"

"Until the weapon's finished! The longer it takes, the more time the CCC will have to find us!"

"Shouldn't this be something to discuss with your own lieutenants?"

Oikonny snorted and scowled at the coyote. Damien shrugged.

"A week, maybe two."

"That's too long! By then the…wait, Golras!"

"What about it?"

Oikonny moved away from the table and grinned widely. "Hehehe, that's right…we finished building the Golras just the other day! We've tested it and…yes, this can work out."

Damien raised an eyebrow when he saw Andrew rubbed the white hair on his chin with his metal fingers. He muttered to himself a few times before he looked at the coyote with a different, friendlier expression.

"You're right; I should be discussing this matter with my own soldiers! You worry about your own team for now; relay all the information you know about the CCC to the other aces. With the Devil Dogs gone, we'll be needing them all soon!"

"What about the weapon you were asking about? Didn't you—"

"Distraction, Burns! Distraction! I don't care what you or any of the aces do! You distract them all long enough until this weapon is finished. I'll figure out what to do afterwards. But I assure you, this project of mine will change the tide of future battles before they even start!"

Damien shrugged. "All right then. We'll strike other military installations around the Lylat System. That's bound to draw out the CDF and some of the CCC soldiers."

"So get going and do it! I'm not paying you to just stand around here!"

The coyote nodded slowly. "Yes…Emperor."

Oikonny liked the way that sounded, being addressed as an Emperor. The monkey grinned and watched as the coyote walked out of his office. Seconds later, the door opened up again, and a thick brown gorilla with a robotic left arm stepped into Oikonny's office.

"You wanted to see me after Burns left?"

Oikonny nodded. "Find our mutual friend for me. I need to see him as soon as possible…"

* * *

The light brown lion was leaning against the counter chewing slowly. Most of the other mercenaries in the break room were still busy chatting about all their recent missions, their epic tales about all their deadly dogfights against the Cornerian enemy. The lion bit into his sandwich again and chewed as the team sitting by the drink machine laughed and talked voluminously.

"And then they all ran away like cowards! Hehehe, once that refinery burst into flames, that was it! They all left!"

A spotted hyena finished gulping down his can of beer and sighed. "Y'know how those Cornerian scum act! If Star Fox ain't protecting them, they wuss out! A firecracker could scare those punks if they didn't know what direction it was coming from!"

"Shame you and yore team weren't there, Leo," said a female grey hawk with an accent.

Leo smirked and shrugged. "We're mercenaries, not magicians. Can't pop up in every battle, much as we want to."

The bird shoveled more food into her beak before the arctic fox sitting across from the spotted hyena chewed on a forkful of vegetables and croutons from his salad.

"So, err…who's gonna call Carmine's sister?"

Leo sighed heavily and leaned against the counter as he chewed more of his sandwich. "Maybe I'll do it tomorrow."

The spotted hyena sniffed. "And, uh, what exactly do you plan on saying? 'Hey honey! Your brother didn't work at a factory on Macbeth. He was really a bloodthirsty mercenary who killed several CDF pilots for a living. Also, his head got crushed, so, y'know, he's kinda…sorta…well, dead. See you tomorrow!'"

The hawk and fox scowled as they stared at the nasty grin on the hyena's face.

"That's not funny, Grissel. How'd you feel if it were yore mum who had to hear the bad news?"

"My _mom_ is dead. Had some cancer thing a while back. I dunno; I forgot."

The white fox rubbed his muzzle. "You seem rather okay with that."

"Of course I am, Tanner! We're mercenaries; we're not supposed to have families. They're just a liability. If we're being hunted by the enemy and they can't find us, you wanna know what they're gonna do?"

The grey hawk huffed. "Go after our families."

"Exactly, Sanders! Go after our families!"

Grissel grinned. "But I ain't got no family now! Means I got nothing to lose! Means there's no liabilities hanging over my head!"

Leo blinked. "You sound like Lance."

Grissel scoffed. "Pfft! You kidding me? It's not like I cut up people for a living! And I sound nothing like Lance! This is Lance, okay? 'Hello guys. How are you doing today. I am a robot. Pass me the motor oil. Oh look, I just won a game. Victory for me. I am ecstatic. Now if you will excuse me, I must take this plug out of my anus and power down for the night.'"

Grissel created a faint noise that sounded like a machine whirring as it slowly shut itself off. The hyena lowered his head and his arms became limp, as though he were actually sleeping. Then he abruptly sprang awake and giggled after his crude impersonation.

"See? Now _that's_ Lance!"

"No, it's not. You forgot to say, 'Someone has insulted me. I shall vivisect you now while you're still conscious.' Because I'm sure if Lance were here, that is exactly what he'd do to you."

The hyena scratched his head. "What's vivisect mean?"

Tanner sighed as he stood up from his chair. "Let's get going. Andrew wants us to hit those container ships on Zoness. Last thing we need is the Cornerian army obtaining more vehicles to destroy us."

Sanders and Grissel stood up as well. "Yeah, we'll get some sleep once we return. Make sure you don't touch the wonton wraps; those are mine."

"No one gives a rat's anus about your stupid wonton wraps!"

"And no one cares about your annoying, shrill voice, yet you jabber away to the point where we're deaf."

Grissel snickered. "Everybody _loves_ my voice, Tanner!"

The three teammates tossed their trash away and left the break room, leaving Leo to open up the fridge so he could take out a beer. He shoveled the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and sat down at the empty table. Just as the lion opened up the can of the carbonated beverage, an ocelot walked into the break room and approached the drink machine. Leo glanced over at the spotted feline who grumbled as he stood by the machine. Instead of digging into the pockets of his navy blue flight suit, he started to kick the machine several times, creating echoing clanging sounds within the break room. Leo drank more of his beverage before he heard the ocelot growling with frustration.

"They work better if you have coins to put in them."

"Shut up, King," said the ocelot, with a thick Hispanic accent. "I'm not in the mood right now."

"What happened?"

The ocelot punched the machine this time. "The surveillance mission in Sector Z didn't go as planned…we got caught by star cruisers, lost a bunch of men."

Leo frowned. "Dang…you the only one who made it?"

The ocelot grabbed the machine, preparing to shake it. "No, Cassir and Thompson made it too, but that's it. So now Corneria is aware that we're planning on doing something there, and Andrew's not sending me on anymore stealth missions. All I wanna do right now is drink my Diet Fib, and go to sleep."

The ocelot snarled as he began to rock the machine back and forth, hoping one of the drinks would finally fall.

"Just pay for the drink already! Or get something out the fridge!"

The spotted feline stopped rocking the machine. "No. All it does is chew up my dollar, and I end up having to do all this anyway. And there's no Diet Fib in the fridge, last time I checked."

Leo King shook his head. "So what are you and the Bloodcats gonna do now? Still haven't found a new member since April died, and after your failure in Sector Z, I doubt Oikonny will have you do anything else important."

The ocelot sighed. "We'll probably just patrol around the planet for now, or head to Titania looking for anything we can use to help build those bioweapons."

King finished his drink and gulped hard as he stood up. "You'll figure something out, Gael. Just make sure you don't irritate Oikonny too much, or you'll spend the rest of your life being talked to death."

Gael chuckled. "I gotcha. See you later then."

"See ya."

Leo tossed his empty can in the trash and walked out of the break room, leaving Gael to continue messing with the drink machine. He started to walk down the building's corridor, occasionally glancing out the windows at all the activity going on outside. Several primates were outside, exercising or doing drills as they prepared themselves for the next attack against Cornerian forces. It wasn't foggy right now, but some of the soldiers still wore gasmasks due to the planet's harsh conditions. Further along the region, Leo could see a lot of activity going on near one of the base's bunkers. A humongous truck with a huge tarp covering the cargo on the back was slowly moving along the ground, transporting some kind of clandestine entity inside. Leo wasn't sure what was inside, but he usually didn't ask questions unless he needed to. All he cared about was getting paid, and making sure that his team was safe, and right now they were. The lion observed the giant truck for a moment before he turned away and started to walk down the hall. He was so distracted by the mysterious truck that he failed to notice the giant shark that was also walking in the corridor. Leo grunted as he bumped into the hulking frame and looked up at the creature.

"Sorry, my bad," he quickly said.

Leo started to walk away, but the shark had a quick temper. He growled deeply and slowly turned around.

"Get back here," he snarled in his deep voice.

Leo shut his eyes and huffed. He really didn't feel like dealing with this shark today. Nevertheless, he turned around and walked back over to him.

"What?"

Most people would've been intimated by the light green tiger shark with black stripes on his back. He was shirtless, the enormous bulges around his arms, chest, thighs and legs exposed and dripping with sweat. All he wore were dark blue nylon shorts; Leo figured he was about to head to the gym to work out for a little while. Like most sharks, he had a thick dorsal fin on the back of his neck, and his tail fin was massive. His brown eyes seemed to glow, no matter what room he was in, which made it all the more uncomfortable for anyone to make eye contact with him.

"You were in my way."

The lion blinked and folded his arms. "I apologized, did I not?"

The shark stepped so close to Leo that he could almost feel his chiseled abs. Leo had to look up at the strong, burly, eight-foot-tall shark as he stared down at him.

"We've been through this, Leo. Stay the heck outta my way."

"It was just an accident," growled the lion.

The giant shark lifted his oversized right hand and pressed his index finger against Leo's chest.

"They called me 'Truck' back on my college football team. You wanna know why? Cause everyone who saw me runnin' towards 'em was smart enough to get outta my way. That's what happens when you see a truck, Leo. You get out the way. Y'see, you're just a fly, Leo. And when a fly sees a truck, it flies out the way. Or else it's gonna go splat all over the windshield."

Truck lowered his head so his snout was almost touching Leo's muzzle. "Do you wanna go splat, Leo?"

"Take your finger off my chest," the lion snarled.

"What if I don't wanna take it off?"

The two beasts stared at each other for a while, with the shark still keeping his index finger stuck on Leo's chest. The shark taunted Leo when he poked him twice, at which point the lion quickly swatted Truck's massive hand away. In the time it took to blink, Truck took his other hand and grabbed Leo's throat. He didn't squeeze hard, but his grip was firm enough to let Leo know that he could kill him right here and now just by applying more pressure.

"Do you _really_ want this to go any further?"

Even as Truck threatened to choke him, Leo couldn't help but grin. "What if…what if I'm not a fly? What if I'm really just a frightened predator you've backed into a corner? Hehe, you of all people should know how vicious predators get when you force 'em into a corner."

Truck blinked and let go of Leo's neck. The lion laughed to himself as he grinned and stared at the bloodthirsty creature.

"S'what I thought. You wanna kill me right here and now, all because I bumped into you, go right ahead. But I promise you that I'll be able to claw out your eyeballs and bite your throat out _long_ before I die."

Truck blinked and stared at the shorter, not-as-burly lion. Sure, Truck was bigger and tougher, but Leo was quicker, and he still knew how to defend himself. The last thing Truck needed was to lose his eyesight, so he slowly changed his mind, turned around, and silently walked away. Leo turned around as well and sighed as he walked away from Truck. For a brief moment, he wished that the shark's squadron had died on Katina instead of the Devil Dogs. At least Truck had no family, so Leo wouldn't have to worry about telling an estranged sister that his younger brother was dead.

* * *

The mercenaries needed to blow off some steam somehow. If they couldn't do it by exercising in their barracks or personal quarters, or by heading on a mission and channeling their fury onto the enemy, then that just left the base's gym. The giant gymnasium used to only be for Oikonny's troops, and they would train there day and night as they slowly became advanced fighters and perfected their close-quarters-combat skills. But as time passed, and the number of Oikonny's mercenary aces grew, the monkey decided to let them have the entire gym to themselves. If the mercs weren't in the gym playing sports with one another, they were most likely meeting with each other to go over battle plans. Those not going over battle plans were inside the weightlifting room, which was built within the same building and just down one of the gym's corridors. Some of the mercenaries were in there now, working up a sweat as they punched heavy bags or timed themselves to see how many times they could punch a speed bag in a minute. Others were exercising their muscles, grunting or panting as they did pull-ups, push-ups, curls, squats, or simply worked out their arms as they bench pressed or lifted dumbbells.

Somewhere in the middle of the weightlifting room, two lemurs were busy exercising together. Both of them were clad in tank-tops and sweat pants, and the female one was on the floor doing sit-ups while the male one held her feet down. The female lemur grunted while the male one couldn't stop wagging his long striped tail.

"C'mon, Sally, tell me what it was like!"

Sally grunted again as she did one more sit-up, on the verge of collapsing after doing so many in a row. "I told you," Sally grunted again, "was nothin' special."

Sally exhaled and took her hands off the back of her head, her chest rising and falling as she started to catch her breath.

"All right, I'm done for now. Anyone using the dumbbells?"

The male ring-tailed lemur stood up and observed the brown bull who was busy performing squats beside the dumbbells, but the dumbbells themselves weren't being used.

"Nah, got 'em all to ourselves!"

The ring-tailed lemurs stood up and approached the heavy equipment, glad that they didn't have to worry about getting into a petty argument with any of the other aces. They each grabbed the dumbbells they wanted and started to perform bicep curls.

"So, about the dogfight? How can you say it was 'nothin' special'?"

"Because it wasn't. I'll admit that they put up a great fight, but in the end, Star Fox was just 'good,' not fantastic like us Fireflies are."

The male lemur frowned. "Oh, so now you're better than the rest of us?"

Sally smirked. "Maybe."

The male lemur sat down on a bench and paused before doing some more curls. "Didn't you say your team killed one of them?"

"I don't think she was a member of Star Fox. She didn't have the same kind of ship. Probably just a friend who wanted to help out. And Lance was the one who shot her down, not me or Leo or Damien or Viper."

The male lemur scoffed. "Figures. That gator would shoot down a dust particle if it could scream before it died."

Sally sighed. "I wasn't even happy that we won. If I'm being honest, I was disappointed. I thought Star Fox would be better than that. Their leader single-handedly took out Andross and shot down Star Wolf—twice!"

"Not to mention all those superweapons and bioweapons his team destroyed," the male lemur added.

Sally lowered the dumbbells and rubbed some of the sweat off her forehead. "Oh well. Maybe next time will be different. Or maybe our squadron will face an enemy that's much more advanced in dogfighting."

"I think you're being a little harsh on 'em babe. They _did_ kill the Devil Dogs."

Sally rubbed her chin. "Yeah…come to think of it, they did. Heh, maybe our next fight against 'em _will_ be different."

"Maybe."

Sally finished curling her muscles and set the dumbbells back into their original areas before she resumed talking to the male lemur. But before another word could come out, a rap song she was no fan of started to fill the weightlifting room. The male lemur started to laugh hysterically when he saw the exasperated look on Sally's face. The lemur shut her eyes and smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead.

"Are you serious, Myllik?! Out of all the songs you could play right now, you decide to turn on 'Kick the Rock!' at full volume?!"

Myllik was the odd-looking yellow primate hanging upside-down from one of the pull-up bars and performing inverted sit-ups. After the monkey did three quick sit-ups, he grunted and flipped off the bar, landing on the floor with a hard thud. The monkey turned around and laughed as he approached the lemurs. It was easy to recognize the primate from afar, with his short blue Mohawk, his red fingerless gloves, and his sleeveless brown cargo vest and shorts.

"C'mon, Sally! Everyone an' their mother loves rap!" said the monkey.

"This is not rap! This is a song with an amazing jazz beat that's completely butchered by ridiculous lyrics about some red echidna that secretly wants to have sex with a bat!"

"But that's what makes it so catchy honey! _Anyone_ can rap to this beat as bad as this guy by pulling lyrics outta their butt and still make it sound awesome!" said the male lemur.

"I seriously doubt that."

The male lemur grinned and chuckled. "Watch me."

Sally's eyes grew wide. "Stoney, please—"

It was already too late. The male lemur started rapping.

"STRIPED LEMURS! We're stuck here liftin' weights!

Reekin' of musk ain't gonna help us get no dates!

Venom's stank an' sad, it makes us all real bad, huh!

Yeah Sal-leh, she sexy like a dol-leh!

A smooth-furred fighter, she's a real nas-teh biter, what!

She shakes her butt everytime she strut!

That's why I gotta go and tend to mah needs!

Strokin' mah stick until I spray all that seed, yeah, yeah!"

Sally's entire head was red with embarrassment. All she could do was slowly close her eyes and cover her face with her hands as Stoney made a fool of himself in front of all the other muscle-bound mercenaries. Quite a few of them were snickering now or watching the humiliating spectacle take place, hoping they'd be able to remember the lyrics before they left.

"I got one, I got one—let me get the next verse!"

Stoney chuckled. "Take it away, Myllik!"

Now the monkey was rapping, and with his slightly throaty, higher-pitched voice, he made even Stoney's terrible rap sound good.

"Stoney Goodwin's gonna walk up an' tap dat fat—"

"MYLLIK!"

Myllik ignored Sally and kept going.

"Yo, what's wrong, no sense of class?

He marks his tail with those fluids that are fetid!

What's he doing now? He's ready to plow!

When he gets her, he's gonna show her his big jewels!

There she is! It's time to get busy!

Five minutes or less, it's time to make the big ol' bet!

By the aftermath, everything's gon' be so wet!"

Some of the mercenaries began to laugh out loud. Sally sat down on one of the benches, her entire body practically red with embarrassment. Myllik was on the floor laughing hysterically with tears coming out of his eyes, while Stoney couldn't stop howling with laughter after seeing the predicament Sally found herself in.

"Aw, c'mon babe! I'm just messing with ya!" said Stoney.

"This is not funny," growled Sally as she took her hands away and looked at Stoney.

"You know you wanna laugh!"

Stoney pointed at Sally's face as she slowly turned her head away. She was trying to stay mad at the lemur, but there was something about his adorable face and somewhat adolescent attitude that she found attractive and cute about him.

"Ah! See?! You're startin' to laugh!"

"I am not!" said the lemur, even though she was already chuckling and smiling.

Sally usually didn't stay mad at Stoney for long, although this had been the first time he and Myllik embarrassed her like this. Everyone else in the weightlifting room either looked away from Stoney, Myllik and Sally as they chuckled softly, or they ignored them altogether and focused more on working out, instead of on the noise the lemur was making.

"Just…don't make any more raps that lewd again."

"If you say so," said the lemur with a wide grin.

"I'm serious. Last thing we need to do is offend the people we're supposed to be working with cause of your mouth."

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I sure hope no one throws a temper-tantrum over the words that came out of our mouths!" joked Myllik.

Stoney shook his head. "Who cares if what we did was offensive? It was supposed to be. I'm not gonna sit here all day twiddling my thumbs with worry over how someone will respond to what just happened. If people throw a fit over a rap me and Myllik performed that we pulled out of our anuses, then oh well. Pretty sure we got more important things to do in life than complain about something we saw or heard that was offensive or gross. Like, y'know, the fact that we're mercenaries who get paid to cause mayhem and blow stuff up."

"I guess," responded Sally.

The three creatures didn't talk much afterwards and spent more time working out and exercising. Granted, Sally still blushed a few times whenever someone eyeballed her or Stoney and grinned cheekily. But she'd get over it, and hopefully everyone would forget what just happened in a week or less. As Stoney was about to head over to the bench press, two very large sharks walked into the weightlifting room. One of them was Truck, who immediately headed for the heavy bag and started to punch it without warning. The other shark, a tan tiger shark with dark brown stripes on his back, slowly headed over to the bench beside the dumbbells and sat down, causing the structure to creak. Like Truck, the shark was one of the tallest creatures in the room, and he had a menacing look in his chilling blue eyes. He was still wearing his flight suit, which was mostly yellow with black stripes here and there.

"WHEW! They had me stuck in that hangar all day! I'm about ready to keel over!"

"Hehe, if only you were here a few minutes ago," snickered Stoney.

"What'd I miss?"

"Just me dying of shame, that's all," mumbled Sally.

The shark smirked as he bent down and started to grab his right boot. "Stoney showed off his rapping skills again, didn't he?"

"If you could call it a 'skill,' then yes."

Myllik stared at the tiger shark as he lifted his right foot and started to slowly take off his black boot. The primate backed away, already aware of the impending danger his nose was about to be in. The shark grunted as he took off his boot without undoing the laces, exposing his sweaty sock and the oversized foot the sock was covering. The shark sighed with relief and wiggled his toes before he tossed his boot aside and started to take off the other one. Stoney and Sally were frowning and plugging their noses.

"You could at least change your socks before taking your boots off in front of us!"

"Stop whining. This whole room stinks of feet and sweat; I'm pretty dang sure mine aren't the only ones you smell."

That much was true. Most of the people in the room—Stoney, Myllik, and Sally included—were shoeless. Some of them were barefooted and had their smooth or sweaty soles pressed against the floor. The tan shark grunted as he wiggled his left boot and eventually got it off, exposing his other large, socked foot. The shark tossed his left boot beside the other one and exhaled as he set his foot down. The shark leaned backwards and relaxed as he let his feet air out, curling and wiggling his toes as he did so.

"Ahhh, that's better."

Myllik rubbed his nose with his arm and coughed a few times. "Not from where we're standing!"

Sally blinked. "So…embarrassing raps and fetid feet aside, why were you in the hangar? Oikonny giving your squadron new orders?"

"The Mackerels don't answer to nobody, Sally! S'why I was in the hangar to begin with; I was snoopin' 'round, tryin' to find out what everyone else was up to."

Stoney, Sally and Myllik ignored the odor of the shark's feet and started to take him seriously. "What d'you find out?" asked the yellow primate.

The tan shark smirked. "That's fer me to know, and you three to find out!"

Stoney scowled. "Hornet…"

"All right, all right. I heard they want us to disrupt all of Corneria's supply convoys and military outposts. The last thing we need is them trying to make their own superweapons against us. Not sure why Oikonny doesn't want his own troops to handle that, but whatever. He even wants my team on Aquas so we can destroy some of their oil rigs and medical ships."

"It's gotta be a distraction for something bigger. While we're drawing away all their attention on one planet, Andrew can use his entire force to strike a key installation on another planet clear across the Lylat System," suggested Sally.

"I suppose so. Had ta spend most of my time helpin' that windbag Targin fix some of those ships since he was annoyed with me standin' around doing nothing."

"Did he tell you anything?" asked Stoney.

"He was more than happy to share a few farts with me. That's about it."

Sally sighed. "I'll go talk to him. Targin likes me; he'll probably open up to me the second we see each other."

Stoney blinked and looked at Sally. "What makes _him_ so special?"

"He doesn't humiliate me in front of everyone by rapping about his libido in front of his girlfriend, for starters," said Sally sternly.

Hornet laughed. "So _that's_ what I missed."

Myllik snickered. "Sure he doesn't like you for, err…_other_ reasons?"

Sally looked at the yellow monkey and scowled. "I know it's hard to believe, but not everyone on this base is a pervert who spends all his free time drooling over any piece of eye-candy he sees. Get over yourself, Myllik."

Stoney shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Still, don't get too comfortable with that guy. I don't trust him."

"You don't trust anyone 'cept for Sally an' Myllik," Hornet pointed out.

"Which is why I'm still alive today."

"Don't worry guys. I'll be careful. With the way you guys talk about him, it sounds like the worst thing he could do is suffocate me with his gas."

"Do ya have any idea how embarrassing it would be to die that way?"

Sally smirked. "No more embarrassing than suffocating from the smell of your feet, Hornet. Or dying because your boyfriend sang—"

"We get it, Sally! Geez…" shouted Stoney.

* * *

Airship hangar B-3 was one of the busiest hangars on the base. Hundreds of workers of all different species were inside building or repairing starfighters, amongst other things. The hangar itself was wide and long—long enough for someone to construct a heavily armored star cruiser, or even a small aircraft carrier. But this particular hangar was used only for regular starfighters, unless Andrew said otherwise. The hangar was painted yellow on the outside, and the architect of the building looked like a wide 3D horseshoe composed of two very thick doors. The doors were almost always open due to how hot it was inside, even with several fans on. And since both regular and ace starfighters would come into the hangar to get patched up or scrapped if they were too damaged, that meant the hangar was crowded with aircrafts as well as the many mechanics and scientists working on them. One gorilla was shouting at his team of monkeys to work faster, since his starfighter needed to be finished by tomorrow. Another one was getting berated for making a plane's engine worse, not better. Somewhere away from all the chaos was a small hush house. The scientists in there spent most of their time testing newly-built engines before deciding whether or not they should be put to use.

And somewhere in the middle of all this was a female lemur in her flight suit, blinking and occasionally coughing as the acrid smell of burning metal or smoke filled her lungs. She started to walk through the massive crowd of workers, but it was impossible to find Targin in this mess, even if he did stand out pretty well. Sally found the nearest repairman she could find—a German Shepherd with two metal arms—and tugged on his coveralls.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Where's Targin?"

The Shepherd gestured to the right with his head. "Over by the fan, inspecting one of the starfighters. Wouldn't bother him; he's in one of his moods again."

Sally smiled. "I think I'll manage."

The German Shepherd wasn't too concerned over what might happen to Sally, so he continued working. After the dog pointed out the way, the lemur managed to find Targin in only a few minutes. She started to walk up to him and paused when she saw a rather unpleasant view of the green gator. He was on his knees and sitting on the heels of his socked feet. The creature was leaning forward, and his brown shorts were sagging so much that Sally could see his blue boxers with red polka dots on them. The only reason why she couldn't see the crack of his butt was because his thick green tail was blocking it. Sally shook her head and chuckled before she walked behind the reptile and acknowledged him.

"You gonna sit there and show off your dirty boxers all day or what?"

Targin was so surprised to hear that familiar voice that he jerked his head up and banged it against the starfighter. He shouted after hearing the loud clang and rubbed his head, grumbling. Then he carefully ducked, moved backwards, stood up, and turned around to face the lemur. The moment he saw her, his face lit up and he smiled.

"Sally Stripes!"

The lemur smiled again. "Nice to see—"

"C'mere and give ol' Targin a hug!"

Sally frowned and tried to back away as the alligator approached her. He laughed heartily as he spread his arms wide and embraced the lemur to the point where he lifted her off the floor. Sally grunted as the gator wrapped her in a bear hug, still laughing joyfully as he nearly crushed every bone in her body. Sally grunted a few times as she tried to break free, in large part because her nose was pressed against his stained white tank-top and she couldn't handle his odor. But eventually, the alligator put her down and stopped laughing.

"Thanks, Targin," muttered Sally.

The alligator chuckled. "No need for us to stand here with all this racket going on! Let's head into my office and talk more there!"

The lemur nodded, and she followed the alligator to the small building within the hangar that looked like a light green construction trailer. Sally glanced over at the reptile's large buttocks and noticed that his shorts were still sagging. He reached behind and scratched his rump before he finally pulled up his brown shorts with one hand, although part of his boxers was still showing. While the sight was disgusting, she was just glad the alligator didn't cut a huge one in front of her by the time they reached the trailer. Targin opened up the door and stepped inside, kicking aside some of the trash he left on the floor.

"Come on in! Just watch where you step," he warned.

Sally stepped into the trailer and shut the door. She immediately grimaced and tried not to cough as the stench of the trailer hit her with full force. Clearly Targin hadn't cleaned the place up in a while, judging by all the beer cans lying on the floor and some of the overflowing trash cans and stains on the carpet, window, table and walls. None of it was helped by the fact that the trailer was humid, or that there was a fat, sweaty gator inside who desperately needed a shower. Targin moved some of the trash off his couch and sat down with a loud huff, rubbing his chubby light green belly that bulged past the waistband of his shorts.

"Take a seat, Sally! Hehe, it's not like the chairs are gonna bite ya! …Well, that spider over there might."

The lemur sat on the cleanest chair across from the big-gutted alligator. He scratched his plump gut again as it gurgled and churned quietly. Then Targin sighed as he placed both of his feet on the table, showing off his dirty socks—one of which had a hole in it, revealing his right big toe.

"Err, are you living in here?"

"Kinda. Oikonny wants us all to speed up our repairs so we can help out on all his 'top-secret' projects and stuff. I barely have enough time to leave the base, so I figured, what the heck! If I'm gonna spend all day and night here, I may as well make my trailer a bit more comfortable!"

The alligator laughed again before he rubbed his snout and sniffed.

"So what brings you here, Sal? Came to chat about your obnoxious boyfriend, or maybe you need some more flight parts?"

"Maybe I just wanted to sniff your stinky feet," she joked.

Targin laughed heartily, to the point where a small amount of spit flew out of his mouth and his large belly jiggled. "They're right here if you wanna give 'em a whiff!"

Sally looked down at Targin's plump feet that were covered in what used to be clean white socks. The reptile grinned as he wiggled his toes, almost as if he were expecting Sally to lean forward and breathe in the stench.

"I'll pass…but I do need something from you. Some more information."

Targin chuckled. "See, that's why I like you, Sally: you get right to the point! None of this beat-around-the-bush nonsense. Still, I'm gonna need more than that. What _exactly_ do you wanna know?"

"Hornet told me most of the aces are supposed to be attacking small-time military installations. I guess we're providing a distraction, but a distraction from what?"

Targin shrugged. "How should I know? I'm just a mechanic who fixes starships!"

The alligator smirked shortly afterwards and lowered his voice. "A mechanic who has _ears_. …Well, earholes. These pilots and scientists; they jabber on and on and on, whining about their planes not flying right, about how lumpy the seats are, about being too hot, getting queasy—PAH! Half of these apes couldn't survive growing up on this planet like I did!"

Sally lowered her voice too. "So what'd you find out?"

"Oikonny's planning something big. I don't know what it is; maybe another bioweapon. I could've sworn I heard something about a shark or…I dunno, some giant fish maybe?"

"So it's a marine-type bioweapon."

"Most likely."

"That makes sense. Hornet told me that his team is going to be sent to Aquas to destroy a few oil rigs, medical ships, maybe tankers as well, that kind of stuff. Perhaps Oikonny needs the bioweapon deployed there. If he's got a weapon that devastating, the Cornerian forces won't set foot on that planet anymore."

Sally was about to continue when she heard Targin's stomach growl deeply. The alligator shut his eyes and groaned as he rubbed his big belly, which gurgled audibly again. Sally stared at the reptile with an annoyed glare in her eyes.

"Ergh…that's the last time I eat all that liver smothered in chili."

"…You ate liver drenched with _chili_?"

"Don't knock it 'til you try it."

Sally huffed. "Should I go ahead and open a window?"

"C'mon, Sal! You really think I would be so crass as to pass gas in front of a lady?"

"Absolutely."

Targin laughed again. "Trust me; nothing's coming out the back door! …Not intentionally, anyway."

"…Mkay then," said Sally reluctantly. "Anyway, what about the other mercenaries? They say anything?"

"The Buzzsaws are calling in some old friends, so expect another squadron to join us. Uh…I think the Trojans are teaming up with Harrison's tank squadron to see if they can assault a compound on Fichina. And I heard Tanner mention Zoness…who knows, maybe something's going on there too."

"All right."

Targin took off his blue cap and scratched his scalp. "Come to think of it, there is this one weird thing going on…Oikonny and Damien keep telling me to order barrels of acid. I'm not sure why, but I got the room for it, so I may as well."

"What the heck would Oikonny need acid for?"

Targin shrugged again. "Beats me."

Sally wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Flammable fluids or bombs would be understandable, but acid? From what it sounded like, Oikonny planned on deploying a bioweapon on Aquas and having the creature pollute the entire planet with acid. But that didn't make sense; the planet was completely flooded. The only people stationed there were soldiers or anyone taking refuge in the small towns and facilities Corneria built on the surface of the water. The lemur wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Okay…I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Targin."

The alligator took his feet off the table. "Oh, no, no, no, no! We've been doing this for quite a while now, Sally! We talk, you ask for a favor, and I give it to you!"

Targin laughed evilly as he grinned and scratched his crotch. "I think it's time for you to pay me back."

Sally looked at the gator with wide eyes. Targin wasn't really attractive, and he was gross. The cleanest bit of clothing on his body was his blue cap. He didn't shower, he rarely washed his clothes, he ate food that was unsanitary, and more than enough people have brought up his gas issues. The last thing Sally wanted was to mate with him.

"Well…err, I'm, uh, I'm not sure if I could do…_that_."

"What, have sex with me?"

"…If you wanna be blunt about it."

"I'm not saying that at all!"

"Then why were you scratching yourself down there?"

Targin blinked. "Because it itches, Sally."

Sally calmed down. "Oh."

"'Sides, you ain't my type anyway!"

The lemur smirked. "What, a mammal?"

Targin grinned. "No, female."

Sally eyes grew wide. "Oh. …Well then. Learn something new every day."

"Indeed we do! I bet you also didn't know that I haven't washed these socks in two years!"

Sally grimaced. "That's…ugh, can you just tell me what that favor is you want me to do?"

"I'll think of something later. But it could be anything! Maybe I'll ask you to give me a back massage. Or a foot massage; haven't had one of those in a while! Or perhaps I'll order you to execute someone for me. Hehehe…we'll see."

The lemur and alligator stood up and began to walk towards the door. "Just know that I may ask for more help from you before I do this favor."

Targin laughed. "I tell you classified stuff all the time! What more could you possibly want me to do?!"

Sally turned her head away and scowled. "You could start brushing your teeth, for one."

"Not a chance, Sal! I enjoy having personal space, and not showering or brushing my teeth is gonna help me keep it."

"I guess so," said Sally.

Even if his reasons did have some logic behind them, that didn't change the fact that the reptile had poor hygiene. Sally opened up the trailer door and was immediately greeted to the din going on within the airship hangar.

"I'll see you later, Targin!"

"See ya! And don't forget what I said: you owe me!"

The lemur smirked at the gator and wagged her tail before she turned around and walked away. She knew she'd have to pay back Targin for all the help he's given her, but that wasn't her highest priority. Right now she needed to figure out when and where Oikonny's next attack would take place.

* * *

The monkey was starting to get irritated. The other creature sitting in his office was constantly snorting and laughing, babbling on about how wealthy he was going to become. After a while, Oikonny slammed his metal fist down on his desk and shouted.

"For the last time, will you help me or not?!"

"Heh har har! Course I'll help you, old friend! So long as you pay me in advance!"

Oikonny stared at his "friend's" cocky smirk and scowled. "I'll pay you after."

"Before!"

"After."

"No, no…_before_!"

"I said after!"

The creature put his hands behind his head and laughed to himself. "Heh hahaaaaa! Only one way this is gonna go monkey-boy! Agree to pay me now, or I'm outta here!"

Andrew rubbed the white hair around his chin. "How 'bout, uh…I pay you half now, half after the job's done?"

The creature shook his head. "Ain't gonna fly with me!"

"How 'bout I pay you half now, half later, and I'll make sure my guards don't slice open that fat stomach of yours while you're still breathing?!"

Oikonny's "friend" snorted and laughed as he put his arms down. "All right, fine then! So tell me, whatcha want me to do?"

"I need you to find a heavily populated target for me to attack. A town, a convoy—anything! Just make sure that when this attack occurs, the casualties will be high and most of the casualties will be civilians. And make sure that the area you choose for the attack is so important that it'll draw out the military."

"Hmm…you want me to help you kill dozens of innocent people, hundreds even!"

"Yes, Pigma, that is _exactly_ what I want you to do."

The pink pig snorted and frowned. "That's despicable! It's unforgiveable, sadistic, and above all, wrong! I can't believe how far you've fallen, Andrew! Killing hundreds of innocents? That's the most abhorrent thing you could ask me to do!"

Oikonny didn't get angry. He didn't even say anything because he knew Pigma, and he knew precisely what the swine would say next. Pigma laughed to himself before he leaned forward and grinned.

"I'm in!"


End file.
